Poor performance of Nairobi Securities Exchange last year saw Britam Holdings incur a loss of Sh3.2 billion in equities; negatively impacting on its financial results for the year.
Yesterday, the firm announced Sh2.85 billion loss for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to a profit of Sh1.38 billion in 2017. The NSE turnover declined by 18 per cent.
Apart from poor tidings from NSE, Britam Group managing director Benson Wairegi attributed the loss to a one off cost of Sh691 million paid to 110 employees who left the firm following a restructuring.
"The 2018 performance is largely attributable to the poor performance in the stock market where the Group reported unrealised loss from investment in listed equities of Sh3.2 billion compared to a gain of Sh900 million in 2017," Wairegi said.
Other reasons include lower results from property investments and provisions under the new IFRS9 due to significant investments in financial assets.
Wairegi said the firm has started to diversify its investment portfolio to spread risk.
However, the insurer joined the hundred billion shilling club with its assets growing to Sh103.6 billion from Sh99 billion in 2017.
During the year under review, gross earned premium and fund management fees registered a growth of four per cent to Sh25 billion from Sh24.1 billion reported in 2017.
The Asset Manager business on the other hand grew 14 per cent, closing the year at Asset Under Management (AUM) of Sh146.46 million.
The life assurance business recorded a premium growth of six per cent, which was generally higher than the industry average.
