Johannesburg - Insurance Outsourcing Managers Holdings (Insure), the short-term insurance group, was on track to achieve maiden (since listing) pretax profit of R5,9 million for the year to February, Kim Walmisley-Crown, the financial manager, said yesterday.
Insure surfaced at the exchange after the dissolution of Asas, the failed IT company, which disposed of its assets and transformed itself into a short-term insurer.
An analyst, who declined to be named, said Asas ran into financial problems three to four months after listing.
"Insure issued new shares to acquire the Asas business, and later, to minority shareholders at Asas to buy out the group and use it as a back-door mechanism to enter the stock exchange."
The analyst said Insure was no stranger to insurance. "The group has been operating as a short-term insurer for over 10 years," she said.
Analysts concurred that Insure's price earnings ratio of -0,9 related to the failed Asas entity and was not indicative of a financial crisis at Insure.
For the six months to September 2000 Insure's unaudited financial statements show attributable earnings were at R1,27 million.
Insure group, listed on the short-term sector of the main board, has recently been trading at a paltry 3c a share at the JSE Securities Exchange.