Ceylinco Insurance announces record 350% dividend

Ceylinco Insurance PLC has announced an incomparable dividend of Rs. 35 per share to its shareholders for the year 2018, which constitutes a 350% dividend of the original share price at the AGM of the company held recently. 

This is an increase of 11% of the dividend declared for 2017. Ceylinco Insurance PLC said that the company was able to declare this dividend due to the exceptional results of its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd. and Ceylinco Life Insurance Ltd.  

Addressing the gathering, Chairman Godwin Perera stated that as a responsible public entity, it unhesitatingly and totally condemned the ruthless attacks on innocent civilians on Easter Sunday. On behalf of the Board of Directors, he extended their sincere sympathies to all the relatives of over 250 people who lost their lives.   

The revenue of Ceylinco Insurance PLC exceeded Rs. 49.4 billion in 2018 with its insurance sector contributing Rs. 45.5 billion, the education sector Rs. 2.8 billion, the power and energy sector Rs. 834.4  million, with the others contributing the balance. The consolidated results recorded an imposing expansion, with the profit before tax reaching an exceptional Rs. 11.1 billion and the after tax profit standing at Rs. 8.7 billion.

Commenting on the achievement Ceylinco Insurance PLC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Ajith Gunawardena said: “This nature of a record dividend, one of the highest declared by a company in the financial sector, was made possible by the firm confidence placed in us by our customers and our shareholders and our staff, who went that extra mile to ensure the company maintained the highest standards in customer care. Our customers are the lifeblood of the company and we remain dedicated to innovating and adding value to their experience.  Good governance, coupled with sound management principles and far-seeing strategies that maximised resources and skills, also helped the company achieve this level of success.”

Ceylinco Life Insurance Chairman R. Renganathan said: “We define life insurance as ‘a relationship for life’ with our policyholders and their families, but shareholders are an equally important stakeholder segment, and our record of dividend payments reflects not only the success of the business, but the company’s commitment to treating its shareholders equitably. Ceylinco Life’s net profit of Rs. 5.79 billion for 2018 reflected a material reduction consequent to the Company’s tax provision increasing fourfold from Rs. 340 million in 2017 to Rs. 1.363 billion in 2018, under the new life insurance tax regime introduced by the Government. Nevertheless, all stakeholder segments have benefitted from our success, while our Life Fund grew to Rs. 88.05 billion following a transfer of Rs. 6.46 billion and shareholders’ funds increased by Rs. 5.78 billion or 27.99% to Rs. 26.43 billion.”

Ceylinco General Insurance Managing Director/CEO Patrick Alwis commenting on the performance said: “The main contributor to the success of the group was the insurance sector, which recorded a mammoth after tax profit of Rs. 7.5 billion, for the year ended 31 December 2018. Contributing to this remarkable performance, Ceylinco General Insurance recorded a profit after tax of Rs. 1.8 billion. This is after paying claims to the tune of Rs. 9.4 billion in 2018.  The unprecedented amount of money provided in lieu of claim settlement reflects the company’s continuing commitment to ensuring timely claim settlement to all customers. Ceylinco General Insurance has always maintained an undisputed and unmatched reputation for settling all claims on the spot, enabling our customers to return to normalcy in the fastest possible time.”