By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinatorTHE country's leading Life insurance company, Life of Jamaica (LoJ) headed by Maxine MacLure, has posted its best results ever, with profits of $725 million for the first quarter.
The unaudited consolidated financial statements of the LoJ Group for the quarter and nine-month period ended September 30, 2003, shows the group continuing to deliver strong financial results against the backdrop of a challenging macro economic environment. Net profits, after taxes, for the nine months period were $724.8 million as against $400.1 million for the comparative period in 2002, an increase of 81 per cent.
Profitability for the third quarter was $206.2 million, 55 per cent higher than $133.1 million earned in the same period last year.
Basic earnings per share were $0.3038 to September 30, 2003 and $0.2416 to September 30, 2002.
All lines of business and segments performed well. The principal drivers of the operating results for the nine-month period were:
The generation of excellent Individual Life new sales;
Realisation of administration synergies from the merged operations of LoJ and Island Life;
Portfolio growth from the acquisition of Island Life Insurance Company Limited (Island Life) effective March 31, 2003 and
Very positive performance of the investments portfolio, influenced by foreign exchange gains on assets denominated in United States dollars.
The Individual Life new sales performance of the LoJ Group was particularly impressive in recent months. They wrote record levels of new business in August and September 2003. In the past few months, they led the industry in new business production settling approximately 35 per cent of the Individual Life new business in the industry. Total new sales of the LoJ Group for the nine-month period for both Individual Life and Group insurance were $641.9 million. This performance is well ahead of the Group's targets.
Earlier in the year, the operations and sales teams of LoJ and Island Life were merged. By the end of March 2003, it acquired all of the issued shares of Island Life, leading to a substantial growth in the LoJ Balance Sheet. At the end of September 2003, total assets of the Group were $11.4 billion, up from $6.8 billion at December 2002. The book value of shareholders' equity was $3.6 billion a 135 per cent growth over the position at the end of December 2002. The annualised return on average equity for the nine months period was 37.6 per cent. The share price at September 30, 2003, was $3.24 and the market capitalisation was $8.2 billion. Total assets under management, including segregated policy funds and pension funds, at the end of September 2003 were $33.9 billion, up from $25.0 billion at December 2002. The company's strong performance has been achieved despite the impact of a number of expenditure items during the period under review, which related to the prior year.
On September 26, 2003, the Board of Directors approved an interim dividend of $0.10 per share on the common stock of the company, payable on October 24, 2003, to shareholders on record as of close of business on October 6, 2003.
As it goes into the last quarter, a period of increased business activity, it expects continued earnings growth and high new sales.
