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City Insurance PLC posted a 2 per cent year-on-year growth in profit to Tk 210 million for 2024 amid ongoing macroeconomic challenges.
The company announced a 10 per cent cash dividend for the year.
The general insurer's earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 3.08 in 2024, up from Tk 3.02 in the year before, according to price sensitive information published on Thursday.
In Bangladesh, general insurance companies do business mainly in three segments -- fire, transport and marine.
The ongoing macroeconomic challenges slowed down the profit growth, otherwise profit would have been much higher, said an official of the company, declining to be named.
The overall slowdown business activities in the country impacted the general insurer's business as well, he noted.
Persistent macroeconomic challenges, strong dollar, and runaway inflation hit the general insurers' business but higher interest income helped their profit grow, industry insiders said.
As the bank interest rate increased, the income of cash surplus insurance companies are growing, said a leading broker.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) removed the interest rate cap and replaced it with a market-driven reference rate in May last year, which led bank deposit and lending rate higher.
"The higher interest generally helps increase the cash-surplus insurance industry's financial income," said the stockbroker.
The City Insurance will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) on March 24 while the record date for entitlement of dividend is on February 27.
The company's net operating cash flow per share, a measure of a company's ability to generate cash from its operations, dropped to Tk 2.44 per share, from Tk 2.53 the previous year, mainly for lower collection.
The net asset value, which refers to the excess of total assets over total liabilities, reached Tk 21.15 per share, up from Tk 20.40 the previous year.
However, the insurer is yet to disclose the details of audited financial statements for 2024.
Its nine months' gross premium grew 15 per cent year-on-year to Tk 679 million for January-September last year.
Listed in 2007, its stock price fell 0.50 per cent to Tk 40 on Thursday on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. In 2023, the company paid a 12 per cent cash dividend.