Ceylinco Life has posted robust income and profit growth for the nine months ending 30th September 2019, continuing the Company’s sector-leading performance into the third quarter of the year.
The life insurance leader has reported net income of Rs 22.8 billion for the period, an improvement of 10.4 per cent over the first nine months of 2018, with net premium income growing by 5.5 per cent to Rs 13.3 billion and investment income up by a noteworthy 18 per cent to Rs 9.1 billion.
Profit before tax increased by an impressive 54.8 per cent to Rs 5.8 billion for the nine months reviewed, the Company announced.
Profit after tax grew by a healthy, albeit lower, rate of 36.8 per cent to Rs 4.5 billion, with the lower rate of growth attributed to higher provisions made by the Company for income tax due to a change in the basis of income tax computation under the new tax regime.
Basic earnings per share for the nine months improved by Rs 24.19 to Rs 89.92.
“These figures represent a forceful performance in terms of life insurance sales and management of investments during a period of economic uncertainty and political upheaval, to which businesses like life insurance are especially vulnerable,” Ceylinco Life Managing Director Mr Thushara Ranasinghe said. “Our ability to generate solid results during such times is a tribute to the Company’s capability to remain focussed on, and steadfast to its mission, even in times of challenge and distraction.”
Ceylinco Life’s Life Fund grew by 4.8 per cent to Rs 92.3 billion as at 30th September 2019, after a cumulative transfer of Rs 3.3 billion to shareholder funds in the nine months under review.
The Company paid Rs 8 billion in net claims and benefits to policyholders, which reflects an increase of 12.4 per cent over the corresponding period of 2018.
Total assets of Ceylinco Life increased by Rs 22.5 billion or 19 per cent since 31st December 2018 to Rs 140.5 billion as at 30th September 2019.
Ceylinco Life ended 2018 with total assets worth Rs 118 billion, total income of Rs 28.7 billion, premium income of Rs 17.8 billion, a Life Fund of Rs 88 billion, an investment portfolio with a value in excess of Rs 103.7 billion and net profit of Rs 5.79 billion.
The market leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry for 15 of the 31 years it has been in operation, Ceylinco Life has close to a million lives covered by active policies and is acknowledged as a benchmark in the local insurance industry for innovation, product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.
Ceylinco Life was adjudged Sri Lanka’s most valuable life insurance brand by Brand Finance in 2019, ranked among the 10 ‘Most Admired Companies’ in the country this year by the International Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka, named the Best Life Insurer in Sri Lanka for the fifth consecutive year in 2018 by World Finance, and has also been declared the most popular life insurance company in the country for the past 13 years by SLIM-Nielsen.