Nizar Juma Chairman Jubilee Holdings during the launch of Explorer health insurance at Serena yesterday. Photo KARUGA WA NJUGUNA
Jubilee Holding is in the final stages to switch to name to Jubilee Allianz General Insurance in Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Mauritius.
Speaking during the annual general meeting held in Nairobi, Jubilee Holdings Limited Group chairman, Nizar Juma said the transaction is is awaiting regulatory approvals and completion of the separation of the General and Medical business into two separate companies before Allianz can purchase the agreed interests in the General companies.
The two firms completed the Kenya part of the partnership transaction on May 4 where by Allianz became the majority shareholder in Jubilee General Insurance Limited in Kenya after acquiring a 66 per cent stake from Jubilee Holdings Limited (JHL).
Juma said that JHL continues to make innovative changes to products to meet the changing and new customer expectations.
"The firm will continue to add more products and other customer service features to the digital platform to make it easier for customers to interact with the insurance subsidiaries," Juma said.
During the AGM, JHL shareholders confirmed the payment of the final dividend of Sh8 per share as recommended by the board.
This brings to Sh9 the total dividend per share and payment of Sh652.3 million as total dividend for the year.
The 2020 final dividend will be paid on July 26, 2021 to shareholders registered as at May 26.
Despite operating in a challenging environment characterized by the effects of Covid-19 and related lockdowns, the firm demonstrated resilience to earn a profit before tax of Sh5.08 billion for the financial period ended December 31,2020, an increase of Sh70 million compared to 2019.
The Group’s total assets increased by 12.1 per cent to Sh145.86 billion from Sh130.08 billion and total shareholders’ equity and reserves increased 15.8 per cent from Sh28.25 billion to Sh32.72 billion, due to an increase in retained earnings and reserves.
Shareholders also approved an amendment of the company’s Articles of Association to allow it buy back its own shares the future in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2015 and guidelines that are currently under development by the Capital Markets Authority.
The ability of a public listed company to buy back its own shares is a common feature of most developed capital markets and is often used as a tool to return value to the shareholders.
A buyback is typically done on the open market when the company purchases the stock from its shareholders directly and returns them to the treasury of the company. -
