BKIC posts 54pc growth in profit

Manama: The Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company (BKIC) Board of Directors approved the first quarter 2016 financials of the company in its meeting held on Thursday, May 5.

The Board of Directors informed that the company has achieved significant growth of 54 per cent in profit despite the major challenges faced by the insurance sector due to severe competition among companies and low oil prices.

The net profit increased from BD 627,000 in the first quarter of last year to BD 967,000 in the first quarter of this year.

The technical profit increased by 138 pc, from BD 353,000 in the first quarter last year to BD 837,000 in the first quarter of this year due to the improvement in net premiums, net commissions and net claims.

The investment income decreased by 53pc, from BD 591,000 in the first quarter last year to BD 278,000 in the first quarter of this year due to volatile stock market resulting in provisioning for impairment of BD 425,000.

The earning per share was 14 fils compared with 9 fils in the same period of the previous year. The return on equity was 3 pc compared with 1.9pc in the previous year.

Ebrahim Al Rayes, CEO of the company, said that the company has achieved significant growth of 20pc in Gross premium, from BD 8.9 million in the first quarter of last year to BD 10.6 m in the first quarter of this year.

“This helped the company to achieve 10pc increase in gross earnings from BD 3.46 m to BD 3.79 m. On the other hand the net incurred claims improved by 8pc, from BD 2.17 m in the first quarter of last year to BD 2.01 m,” he said.

On business development, he added, “The company has enabled renewal of motor policies online through company’s website. Purchase of motor polices online for individuals was started last year. We hope the company will continue to achieve good results in the coming periods and will retain its leading position in the Bahrain market.”