Middlesea registers €17.3 million profit in 2013

Middlesea has announced that the total group profit before tax for the year ended 31 December, 2013 amounted to €17.30 million.

The results include the consolidated MSV Life results of €15.48 million (2012:  €15.98 million).  MSV reported a turnover of €111.32 million compared to €87.31 million in 2012 as a result of increases across various classes of protection business and stronger single premium business.

The resilience and upturn in equity and bond markets kept revenue patterns similar to 2012 with net investment income increasing from €95.44 million in 2012 to €98.19 million in 2013. In the previous year there was a significant one-off deferred tax gain whereby all unutilised tax amounts available for relief against future taxable income in terms of the applicable law were recognised.  In 2013, the MSV Group recorded an after-tax profit of €9.85 million for the year.

Middlesea Insurance registered gross profit before tax amounting to €5.9 million, including dividends from subsidiary companies of €4.09 million. Pure technical results on local business (including Group Life) improved by 1.71% and stand at €7.07 million compared to €6.95 million in the previous year. Investment income reduced due to lower fair value movement particularly on the property portfolio and negatively influenced by currency movements.

The results confirm that an 11.2% reduction in gross premiums written by the parent company, following the termination of one of the main agency agreements (which in 2012 underwrote 18.4% of MSI’s portfolio) in the beginning of the year, did not have a big impact on the Group’s profitability. In Financial Year 2012, Middlesea Group had registered a profit of €18.01 million

Shareholders’ equity increased to €60.84 million, still maintaining a strong regulatory solvency position of 515% on its general business, when compared to the minimum regulatory requirement of 150%.

A gross dividend in respect of year ended 31 December 2013 of €0.045 per share amounting to a total dividend of €4,140,222 (2012: €2,300,000) is to be proposed by the directors at the forthcoming annual general meeting. This is equivalent to a net dividend of €0.03826 per share amounting to a total net dividend of €3,520,000 (2012: €1,745,000).