Jubilee Holdings posts 13pc growth in 2017 profit to Sh5.16b - Capital Business
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Jubilee Holdings posts 13pc growth in 2017 profit to Sh5.16b

Jubilee Holdings Nizar Juma (c) attributes the growth to a strategy that aimed to increase insurance penetration/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 13 – Jubilee Holdings has recorded a 13 percent growth in its pre-tax profit for the year ended December 31st 2017 to Sh5.16 billion up from Sh4.56 billion during the same period in 2016.

Total income recorded a 25.2pc jump to Sh31.27 billion from Sh24.98 billion as a result of increased net earned premiums, higher investment income and fair value gains on investments.

Jubilee Holdings Nizar Juma attributes the growth to a strategy that aimed to increase insurance penetration while focusing on building sustainable profitability despite the difficult operating environment in 2017.

“We have however demonstrated our business resilience and agility to adapt to the market forces and tough times by overcoming these challenges and this is evidenced by the results,” said Juma.

The overall Gross Written Premium and Contributions grew marginally from Sh33.81 billion to Sh33.94 billion, while the short-term business underwriting results grew by 83 percent to stand at Sh1.41 billion.

Earnings per share rose to Sh54.26 from Sh45.49 in the previous year, an increase of 19 percent

Jubilee Holdings cemented its position as East Africa’s largest insurer with a 15.9pc increase in total assets which now stand at over $1 billion (Sh104.96 billion) from Sh90.56 Billion in the prior year.

“Our balance sheet clearly demonstrates our financial strength and our ability to protect the interests of those we insure. By leveraging on this strength, we will continue to provide innovative insurance solutions as we seek to grow our existing and new business in the region” said Dr. Julius Kipng’etich – Regional Chief Executive Officer, Jubilee Holdings.

Jubilee Holdings long-term business posted a sturdy performance growing by 22.4pc from Sh11.19 billion to Sh13.7 billion, and the overall insurance result grew marginally to Sh1.23 billion from Sh1.2 Billion in 2016 despite the drop in the yield curve and the unexpected issuance of new guidelines that necessitated an increase in the risk margin assumption.

Fraud remains one of the growing concerns across the insurance industry and we continue investing to strengthen our systems, processes and controls to ensure that we facilitate fraud prevention, detection and effective action in the event that it happens.

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“Our systems are now enabled to link a specific patient to a claim and this ensures that we monitor and track medical services rendered, quality of service received and in some cases how long it took to receive the services. With this view, it makes it more difficult for fraudsters to falsify claims,” said Kipng’etich.

Jubilee Holdings has also embarked on cost reduction measures for medical insurance by championing the use of quality branded generic drugs which are just as effective but cost a fraction of the cost of branded drugs.

Developed countries like the USA have adopted an 80-20 mix for all the medical prescriptions in favour of branded generic drugs and this is what we look forward to seeing in Kenya as a national priority in order to lower the cost of healthcare and increase accessibility to those who could not previously afford good quality healthcare.

Jubilee Holdings Board has declared a final dividend of Sh8 for a combined interim and final dividend of Sh9 per share, for a total dividend payout of Kshs. 652.3 million.

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