Sanlam Kenya Plc has announced that it has restructured its foreign currency-denominated loan into a local currency facility.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company said it restructured $27 million loans into a Sh3 billion facility with a local bank, to mitigate against future forex losses due to the weakening of the Kenya Shilling against the United States dollar.
Sanlam Kenya CEO Patrick Tumbo said the business continues to take a long-term view in the execution of its strategy and will build on current successes in its insurance business, to grow to profitability.
"The debt restructuring which commenced in 2020 is now complete, and it will provide much-needed relief as the forex loss risk is now mitigated going forward," Tumbo said.
Announcing its half-year performance, the group CEO said that despite an improvement in insurance sales, the company made Sh291.8 million loss, compared to Sh99.1 million made in the same period last year.
Tumbo attributed the loss to one-off forex losses.
Gross insurance revenues improved significantly for both Life and General business with half-year consolidated gross written premiums at Sh5.9 billion, marking a 38% improvement compared to the same period last year, which record Sh4.3 billion.
Sanlam General posted a 32% growth, while Sanlam Life posted a 44% growth in insurance revenues.
Investment income rose by 23% to reach Sh1.5 billion compared to Sh1.2 billion in the same period last year.
"At Sanlam Kenya Plc, we have also been affected by covid-19, which has accelerated life and general insurance policy claims, but we expect swift recovery as the pandemic containment measures including mass vaccinations begin to bear fruit," Tumbo added.
Tumbo disclosed that the firm is executing a sustainable plan that focuses on enhancing value drawn from the firm's business digitisation initiatives, including adopting e-commerce insurance products, distribution and sales.
