BKIC to propose 30pc cash div

Manama : BKIC board of directors yesterday announced it has decided to propose a cash dividend of 30 per cent to its shareholders on the paid up capital of BD7.15 million, equivalent to 30 fils per share.

The board also said that the company’s results for 2015 were satisfactory, given the difficult situation prevailing in the region due to low oil prices and also due to severe competition in prices among insurance companies particularly in motor and medical insurance lines.  

The net profit recorded was BD2.7m compared to BD4.2m in 2014.  The decrease was mainly due to drop in net investment income from BD2.2m in 2014 to BD1.1m in 2015. In 2014 there was profit of BD1.5m on sale of investment property. 

Also in 2015, there were new expenditures like contribution to newly established “Hit & Run Fund”, amounting to BD112,000 (for 27 months effective October 2013) and a provision of BD145,000 towards Zakat in Kuwait office in accordance with the regulations of the country.  

The profit reduced by BD57,000 due to KD/BD exchange rate. The additional impairment during the year for investment was BD304,000. At the end of the year a loss of BD386,000 was booked towards share of losses in one of the strategic investments as per their management accounts.  

However, it is worth noting that underwriting profits increased by almost 2.4pc from BD2.96m in 2014 to BD3.03m in 2015.

Ebrahim Al Rayes, CEO, said that gross written premium decreased by 4pc from BD39.8m 2014 to BD38.1mn in 2015 mainly due to decrease in premium in medical class caused by non-renewal of some major accounts.  However, this reflected positively on the technical results to record an increase of 2.4pc in insurance profits.