Durrant Pate/Contributor

Trinidad-based insurance conglomerate Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL) has seen a whopping 229% surge in shareholders’ profit owing to the sale in January this year of its Dutch-based insurance subsidiary, Thoma Exploitatie B.V.

It was sold to PIB Group, an insurance-led holding company registered in England & Wales. GHL, which has just released its March 2025 financial performance, declared shareholders’ profit of TT$770 million, exceeding the prior year’s results of TT$234 million by $536 million or 229%. 

This increase was mainly attributed to the TT $651 million gain from GHL offloading of its interest in Thoma Exploitatie B.V. on January 24, 2025. This is included in net profit from discontinued operations after taxation. 

This gain in the sale of Thoma Exploitatie is included in the unaudited profit attributable to shareholders from continuing operations of TT$120 million, lower than the 2024 results of TT$227 million by TT$107 million or 47%. Although the 2025 results from continuing operations are below expectations, the underlying fundamentals of the Group remain strong. 

The focus remains firmly on sustainable, long-term value creation supported by operational efficiencies, disciplined cost management, and favourable market dynamics. 

Better results in upcoming quarter

The management is expecting the upcoming quarters to better reflect the underlying strength of the Group. The management notes, “our core insurance operations remain robust, as this quarter’s insurance service results are consistent with the performance recorded in Q1 2024. The Group remains sufficiently capitalised and compliant with regulatory ratios.”

When compared to the 2024 results, GHL’s equity/book value per share increased from TT$17.00 to TT$23.26, earnings per share rose from TT$1.01 to TT$3.32 while return on equity declined slightly from 24% to 23%. The balance sheet metrics remain strong with the Robert Almeida-led board continuing to create value in the current operating environment. 

A key focus is to increase the organisation’s generation of free cash flow per share, which is essential to enabling resilience and sustainable growth. Commencing this quarter, GHL will move from bi-annual to quarterly dividend payments. 

This move reinforces the board and management’s commitment to regularly returning capital to shareholders and frequently rewarding investors with a sustainable source of cash flows. The inaugural quarterly dividend is proposed at TT21 cents per share payable on June 11, 2025.

Fair value gains hit by Trump’s tariff hike announcement 

Import tariff changes announced by the US government on an already volatile investment market impacted GHL’s first quarter’s performance, resulting in a year-over-year reduction in net fair value gains of TT$101 million or 68%. Net income from investing activities contracted by TT$102 million or 19%, mainly driven by the year-over-year decline in net fair value gains of TT$101 million referenced earlier.

In response, the management and board “continues to closely monitor volatile markets and rebalance investment portfolios, being impacted by announcements regarding trade tariffs given their impact on the global economy.” Net insurance finance expenses increased by TT$7 million or 3% over the prior year, mainly from the Life, Health and Pension (LHP) segment, partially offset by a decline in the Property and Casualty (P&C) segment.

Jump in insurance revenues

For the March quarter insurance revenues rose  TT$1.48 billion, surpassing the 2024 revenues of $1.412 billion by TT$68 million or 5% from continued growth in core business performance across GHL’s diversified operations in the English-speaking and Dutch Caribbean markets. This growth in core business was driven by the Group’s deliberate focus on key strategies and transformational initiatives to deliver the greatest possible value to clients through customer service and product offerings. 

The LHP segment contributed insurance revenues of TT$734 million, up TT$34 million or 5% from the TT$700 million recorded in 2024. Insurance revenue increased on all lines except for Group Life and Group Health, which were marginally lower than the prior year. In the review quarter, the LHP segment generated TT$82 million in new business contractual service margin compared to the prior year’s new business of TT$97 million, as the company continues to sell new policies and retain and service existing business. 

This year-over-year increase in revenue was partially offset by increased insurance service expenses and higher net expenses from reinsurance contracts held. Total gross claims paid by the LHP Segment for the current quarter amounted to TT$782 million compared to TT$733 million in the 2024 quarter.

The P&C segment reported higher insurance revenue of TT$746 million, up from TT$712 million in the prior year by TT$34 million or 5%, principally from operations in the Trinidad and Dutch Caribbean markets. The property, motor and casualty lines of business experienced revenue growth as they continued to build strong momentum. 

The year-over-year growth in revenue was partially offset by higher insurance service expenses, mainly from higher claims incurred and directly attributable expenses. Despite the continued tightening of reinsurance markets, net expenses from reinsurance contracts held declined in the current quarter, mainly from a higher level of incurred claims recovery. 

Total gross claims paid by the P&C Segment for the current quarter amounted to TT$210 million compared to TT$161 million in the prior year’s quarter.