Ceylinco Insurance announces Rs.22.50 per share dividend to shareholders

Ceylinco Insurance PLC announced an incomparable dividend of Rs.22.50 per share to its shareholders for the year 2015, which constitutes a 225 percent dividend of the original share price. This is also an increase of 12.5 percent of the dividend declared in 2014. Ceylinco Insurance PLC said that the company was able to declare this dividend due to the outstanding results of its two wholly-owned subsidiaries – Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd and Ceylinco Life Insurance Ltd. Ceylinco Insurance PLC believes that its success is a reflection of its resilience and strength, expressed through the shareholder and customer confidence in the company.

The revenue of Ceylinco Insurance PLC exceeded Rs.34.6 billion in 2015 with its insurance sector contributing Rs.32 billion, the education sector Rs.2.1 billion, the power and energy sector Rs.445 million, with the others contributing the balance.

Commenting on the achievement, Ceylinco Insurance PLC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Ajith Gunawardena said, “This nature of record dividend, probably the highest dividend declared by a company in the financial sector, was made possible by the unwavering confidence placed in us by our customers and our shareholders, whose trust we value, and our staff, who went that extra mile to ensure the company maintained the highest standards in customer care, adding value to every aspect of the level of service we deliver. Good governance, coupled with sound management principles that maximised resources and skills, also helped the company achieve this level of success.” Ceylinco Insurance PLC Director and Ceylinco Life Insurance Managing Director R. Renganathan said, “The insurance sector of Ceylinco Insurance PLC emerged as the undisputed market leader in the insurance industry for the 12th year running, displaying ample evidence of its dominance in the insurance industry in Sri Lanka. Ceylinco General Insurance and Ceylinco Life Insurance, during the year 2015, paid Rs.12.5 billion as claims and benefits. The unprecedented amount of money provided in lieu of claim settlement and benefits reflect the continuing commitment of both companies to ensuring timely claim settlement to all customers.”

Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd Managing Director Patrick Alwis, commenting on the performance, said, “The main contributor to the success of the group was the insurance sector, which recorded a mammoth after-tax profit of Rs.2.9 billion, for the year ended December 31, 2015. Contributing to this remarkable performance, Ceylinco General Insurance and Ceylinco Life Insurance recorded profits-after tax of Rs.0.9 billion and Rs.2 billion, respectively. The consolidated results recorded an imposing expansion, with the profit-before tax reaching an exceptional Rs.4.1 billion and the after-tax profit standing at Rs.3.65 billion.”