Shareholders net profit climbed by 41%

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Trinidad-based regional insurance giant, Guardian Holdings Limited has clawed back some lost ground in 2022 with shareholders’ net profit surging by 41 per cent.

Net profit attributable to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2022 amounted to TT$1.10 billion, up from TT$782.33 million in 2021. Total comprehensive profit amounted to TT$756.53 million, up from the 2021 booking of TT$353.55 million.

Following taxes of TT$142.76 million in 2022 (2021: TT$215.02 million), net profit after tax totalled TT$1.13 billion for the year, up from TT$798.35 million in 2021. As such, earning per share for the year closed at J$106.77 (TT$4.74) relative to J$77.32 (TT$3.37) in 2021. The stock traded at J$510 as at yesterday (February 28, 2023) with a corresponding P/E ratio of 4.78 times.

Gross written premium for the year under review was up a mere four per cent to TT$7.30 billion, higher than the TT$7.03 billion reported for 2021. Net written premium amounted to TT$4.95 billion relative to TT$4.76 billion reported a year earlier.

Big jump in insurance activities

Net results from insurance activities for the year rose 45 per cent, year over year, from TT$1.06 billion in 2021 to TT$1.54 billion in 2022. The management attributes this to “the excellent performance was driven by our Life, Health and Pension (LHP) segment. As communicated previously, this year the operations achieved returns from our transformation programme as well as synergies from the alignment of our LHP operations in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica”.

However, net income from investing activities declined by 17 per cent to TT$1.33 billion in 2022 from TT$1.61 billion in 2021. Management says, “this was due to volatile market conditions which adversely impacted our investment portfolios”.

Fee and commission income from brokerage activities for the year rose marginally by nine per cent to TT$157.00 million (2021: TT$144.66 million). Net income from all activities for the year rose eight per cent to TT$3.03 billion (2021: TT$2.82 billion).

Guardian Holdings was able to cut its net impairment losses on financial assets, which closed at TT$27.97 million in 2022 relative to a loss of TT$136.02 million in 2021. Operating expenses for the year went up marginally by three per cent to close at TT$1.54 billion relative to TT$1.50 billion in 2021.

Operating profit for the year amounted to TT$1.26 billion relative to TT$979.35 million booked for 2021. Share of after-tax profits of associated companies came out to TT$17.75 million (2021: TT$34.02 million).

Balance Sheet at a Glance

Total assets amounted to TT$34.81 billion as at December 31, 2022, which is a mere one per cent increase over the TT$34.58 billion reported in 2021. ‘Loans and receivables’ and ‘Reinsurance assets’ contributed the most the assets base amounting to TT$2.32 billion (2021:TT$1.94 billion) and TT$1.26 billion (2021:TT$1.10 billion) respectively.

Shareholder’s equity as at December 31, 2022 stood at TT$5.56 billion (2021: $4.97 billion) resulting in book value per share of TT$23.96 (J$539.43) relative to TT$21.44 (J$491.65) as at December 31, 2021.