Mapfre Middlesea plc - Interim Results

On 23 July, Mapfre Middlesea plc published its half-year financial statements covering the six months ended 30 June 2015.

Performance Overview 

During the period under review, gross written premiums of the Mapfre Middlesea Group grew by 49.4% to €126.1 million as both the life business (+58.8% to €105.2 million) and the general business (+15.1% to €20.86 million) registered business growth. In view of the increased business, the Group’s total income from insurance activities increased substantially to €14.7 million compared to just over €6 million in the previous comparable period.

Furthermore, the Group’s investment portfolios registered higher returns during the period under review compared to the first six months of 2014 especially those of MSV life plc. Additionally, the positive performance of the MSE Share Index during the period under review, resulted in positive movements on the portfolio of the Holding Company which had registered losses during the same period of 2014.

Mapfre Middlesea’s performance was also boosted by a one-off saving from the renegotiation of the reinsurance treaty which led to a 12.2% reduction in administrative expenses to €1.2 million.

Overall, the insurance Group registered an 85.2% increase in pre-tax profits to €15.2 million largely reflecting the growth in the life insurance business as well as satisfactory results in the general business which continued to register growth in excess of the market average in spite of the significant competitive pressures.

After accounting for a tax charge of €5.4 million (HY2014: €2.3 million) and minority interest of €4.5 million (HY2014: €2.8 million), the Group’s net profit for the period amounted to €5.3 million compared to €3.1 million registered during the first six months of 2014. This translates into an earnings per share of €0.0574 compared to €0.0336 in the first six months of 2014.

The Statement of Financial Position shows a 7.5% increase in total assets to €1.7 billion largely reflecting the 8.1% increase in other investments to €1.47 billion. Similarly, total liabilities also increased by 8.1% to €1.6 billion mainly reflecting the 8.1% increase in technical provisions on the Group’s insurance and investments contracts in line with the increased business activity. Overall, the Group’s equity attributable to shareholders grew by 1.4% to €81.2 million which translates into a net asset value per share of €0.8829.

Dividend

In line with the Group’s dividend policy, the Board of Directors did not propose to pay an interim dividend.

Outlook

Following the profitability growth registered during the first half of the year, the Directors are confident that the Group will achieve its targets for this year.

In the meantime, Mapfre Middlesea is awaiting regulatory approval for the transfer of the portfolio of AllCare Insurance Limited. Once the transfer is completed, the market share of Mapfre Middlesea plc is expected to increase whilst also leading to the optimisation of available capital.

Download

Mapfre Middlesea plc – Half-Year Report for the six months ended 30 June 2015.