Gaborone - Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL), a subsidiary of South Africa's Sanlam group, has reported a marginal rise in profit for 2014, the company announced on Monday.
For the period under review, profit increased by two percent to close the year at P505.6 million (R611.83m), according to a statement posted on the Botswana Stock Exchange.
Chairwoman Batsho Dambe-Groth and chief executive Gaffer Hassam said in the statement the group's life insurance division saw premium income growing by six percent over the prior year to P1.95 billion (R2.36bn).
Premium income was driven by the individual life new business annual premium.
BIHL, 54 percent of which is owned by Sanlam, also saw value of new business shooting up by 40 percent.
“The use of the life rewards card by our clients as a convenient way to receive their benefits has gained popularity with the uptake doubling since June 2014, inching close to 32,000 cards in issue,” the company said.
During the period, BIHL assets-under-management stood at P28.9bn (R34.97bn), an increase of seven percent compared to December 2013.
The group, turning 40 this year, would continue to diversify revenue sources as competition intensified.
The company was targeting the financial services market for acquisitions, and declared a final dividend of 45 thebe (54 cents) per share.
Sapa