AVIVA NDB records Rs. 3 b consolidated revenue in Q1 2012

Managing Director, Shaf Rouf	Managing Director, T. R. Ramachnadran

The unaudited financial results of AVIVA NDB Insurance presented for the three months ending March 31, 2012 recorded consolidated revenue amounting to Rs. 3 billion. Total Life sales in Gross Written Premium (GWP) terms were an encouraging Rs. 1,615 million. Continued decline in equity market conditions were offset by higher interest rates in bonds resulting in only a relatively small decline in sales volumes of investment linked products. There was increased entry into the investment linked Secure Fund (bonds) both from new business as well as switching from the other two fund options of Balanced (mix of bonds and equity) and Growth (predominantly equity).

Traditional products which are also entirely bond invested, recorded a growth of 4% compared to the previous year.

Shah Rouf, Managing Director of AVIVA NDB said, “As well as the obvious move to security bonds represent, we are seeing customers who are positioning themselves in our investment linked funds to take advantage of the current relatively high interest rates while being in a position to move towards equity. It’s a level of awareness that’s encouraging, given the strong fundamentals of the Sri Lankan economy to deliver long term growth.”

“It’s not all about investments and the rapid penetration of our health insurance product in our overall portfolio reflects the family protection priorities of our customers.”

General insurance reported a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of Rs. 674 million and a continuing focus on quality business and underwriting as reflected by the decline in claims ratio to 65.8% from 74.3% at Q1 2011.

The Group reported unaudited consolidated profit after tax figure of Rs 63 million for Q1 2012. On a like for like basis, excluding a significant contribution from one-off equity gains previous year, this represents an improvement of Rs 16 million over Q1 2011.

As is usual, profit after tax for the quarter excludes the surplus from the Life insurance business which is determined annually after the actuarial valuation and will be included in the audited accounts at financial year end in December 2012.