Jubilee half-year profit up 19pc

By Standard Reporter

Jubilee Holdings posted a 19 per cent rise in pretax profit.  It also posted  a jump in revenue by a third for the first six months of this year. This is as it took advantage of the rapid growth of the region’s untapped market.

The general and medical insurer, which also has operations in Uganda and Tanzania, said pretax profit rose to Sh928 million on revenue of Sh10.6 billion in the first half of  2012.

Jubilee, which marked its 75th year in operation, is the largest insurance company by gross premiums in East Africa, where less than two per cent of the nearly 100 million population have any form of insurance.

“Our results amply demonstrate we have the wisdom and experience of a 75-year-old but the speed and agility of a 20-year-old. This is how during the last eight years, Jubilee has grown tenfold,” Chairman Nizar Juma said in a statement.

The company said its short-term and long-term businesses both grew by double digits, while investment income increased 47 per cent to Sh1.442 billion. Jubilee also has businesses in Rwanda, Burundi and Mauritius and plans to start operations in 12 new markets in Africa by 2014.

Jubilee’s successful medical franchise continued to do well, and J-Care, the retail medical product tailored to young families has been well received in the East African market.

Jubilee has dominated the loclal medical insurance market in the last five years, with a 32 per cent market share in 2011.

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 Jubilee’s medical insurance business also grew by 40 per cent in Tanzania, and 50 per cent in Uganda in the first half of 2012, compared to the same period in 2011.

“Despite being the number one insurer in all these countries, we are good global corporate citizens. We pay all our taxes and observe the best practices in everything we do,”

The insurer is also an equity partner in a local independent power producer Tsavo Power Company and the $860 million Bujagali Power project in Uganda which is providing Uganda’s power needs.