Jubilee retains dividends as profits hit Ksh.4.1 billion

Regional based insurer Jubilee Holdings Limited (JHL) has left its shareholder payout unchanged at Ksh.9 per share with its 2020 full year profit rising marginally to Ksh.4.1 billion.

The 2.5 per cent rise in earnings in the period was achieved on the back of improved income from underwriting and cost containment.

The Group’s total income for instance rose to Ksh.33.1 billion from Ksh.32.8 billion in 2019 with the underwriters gross written premiums hitting the Ksh.30 billion mark.

At the same time, Jubilee’s total expenses and commission payouts fell slightly to Ksh.8.9 billion from Ksh.9.1 billion in the period.

The final Ksh.9 dividend payout which rounds off to a combined Ksh.579.8 million in shareholder pay levels up to the firm’s 2019 payout and aligns to the Group’s dividend policy.

The hold in shareholder pay is nevertheless against a turbulent operating environment last year occasioned largely by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The year 2020 evolved into the year of survival and cast a sharp focus on the ability of businesses to withstand the sudden and extreme changes in the business operating environment,” said Jubilee Holdings Group Chairman Nizar Juma.

“For Jubilee Holdings, we were able to weather this storm through diversification of our product portfolio and our ability to rapidly deploy our business continuity plans to allow the majority of our staff to quickly adapt to the new working needs during the onset of the pandemic and ensuing lock-down, and in turn maintaining our industry leadership position.”

JHL is currently in the process of obtaining regulatory approval to sell of part of its general insurance business to Allianz SE after receiving shareholder approval at its Annual General Meeting in December.

The firm’s regional CEO Julius Kipng’etich expects the underwriter to accelerate its digitization efforts to keep the firm on the growth trajectory this year.

“As a business, our first focus was on effectively coordinating the pandemic prevention measures for both our staff and clients, a move that saw us significantly optimize our operations to achieve improved performance,” he said.