Performance was mainly weighed down by a 32.3 percent and 45.5 percent growth in net claims and operating expenses respectively/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 19 – British-American Investments Company Kenya Ltd (Britam) has posted a Sh1.2 billion pre-tax loss in 2015 compared to Sh3.73 billion pre-tax profit recorded in 2014.
Performance was mainly weighed down by a 32.3 percent and 45.5 percent growth in net claims and operating expenses respectively.
The pensions business registered the strongest growth with a 48 percent increase from Sh2.65 billion in 2014 to Sh3.93bilion last year.
Gross premiums grew by 40 percent to Sh19.6 billion against 2014’s Sh14 billion.
Gross revenues for the life assurance business grew by 13.8 percent to Sh7.4billion in 2015, up from Sh6.5billion the previous year.
“2015 was a challenging year for Britam due to the macro-environment that the country underwent through” said Britam Chief Executive Benson Wairegi.
Total income would have been higher were it not for fair value losses on financial assets of Sh2.8billion compared to a 2014 gain of Sh4.1billion.
Gross revenues for asset management rose by 5.2 percent to Sh732 million up from Sh692 million in 2014 with asset under management rising from Sh57 billion in 2014 to Sh93 billion in 2015.
The regional units contribution to the insurance business rose to Sh4 billion, compared to Sh1.6 billion the previous year.
The firms core business revenues in 2015 stands at Sh20.3 billion, up from Sh14.7 billion registered in the previous year.
In the period under review, the group’s asset base grew by 7 percent to Sh77.6 billion, up from Sh72.5 billion reported in the previous year.
Going forward, management highlighted that it will continue to implement its diversification strategy focused on increasing both local and regional presence as well as increase innovative product offering.
“The fundamentals of the business are strong as we continue the implementation of our growth and diversification strategy,” Wairegi stated.
The Kenyan diversified financial services company also has operations in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Mozambique and Malawi.
