Jubilee Holdings Limited (JHL) has weathered the storm of Covid-19 pandemic by registering Kshs.4.1 billion net profit in year 2020.
Jubilee earned a profit before tax of Ksh 5.08 billion for the financial period ended December 31,2020, an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to the prior year.
“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.
According to Juma, they weathered this storm through diversification of their product portfolio and their ability to rapidly deploy their business continuity plans to allow the majority of their 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,” added Juma.
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.
The Holding’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 pay-outs fell slightly to Ksh.8.9 billion from Ksh.9.1 billion in the period.
The final Ksh.9 dividend pay-out which rounds off to a combined Ksh.579.8 million in shareholder pay levels up to the firm’s 2019 pay-out 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.
Profit After Tax stood at Ksh 4.09 billion compared to Ksh 4.02 billion in the prior year, while total comprehensive income after tax for 2020 increased by 48.7 per cent to Ksh 5.76 billion from Ksh 3.90 billion in 2019.
A large part of this increase in other comprehensive income is attributed to net gains on the translation to Kenya shillings of the Group’s regional subsidiaries and associates.
The Group’s total assets increased by 12.1 per cent to Kshs.145.86 billion from Ksh 130.08 billion and total shareholders’ equity and reserves increased 15.8 per cent from Ksh 28.25 billion to Ksh 32.72 billion, due to an increase in retained earnings and reserves.
The General business was most impacted by the economic challenges caused by the Covid related lockdowns across the region, resulting in an 11 per cent decline in GWP.
However, the Group’s medical business grew by 10 per cent and the Life Insurance business maintained volumes with Individual Life business reporting a robust growth of 16 per cent.
