April 5, 2003	Saturday	Safar 2, 1424

KARACHI, April 4: Adamjee Insurance Company Limited announced after tax profit amounting to Rs219 million for the year ended December 31, 2002, which signalled the return to profitability from the staggering loss of Rs517 million suffered a year ago.

The Board which met on Friday, also announced bonus shares in proportion of three shares for every 20 shares held (15 per cent). That was in addition to the interim bonus issue already announced at 15 per cent.

The market greeted the results and dividend with a jump of Rs2 in stock price which closed at Rs48, from overnight value of Rs46 with trading noted in 4.32 million shares.

The Board went on to inform shareholders that the Annual General Meeting of shareholders would not be held in compliance with the Order dated December 20, 2002 of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The company did not issue a statement to explain the financial figures, but analysts said that the earnings were better than expected.

In a pre-result review, Mohammad Sohail, head of research at InvestCap forecast 2002 to be better mainly due to removal of inefficiency in the UAE business. The overseas operations had been blamed for the enormous loss that the company made in 2001. The company management was stated to have brought about the needed change in Dubai personnel, who had been entrusted with the task to curtail risky car business and to ensure effective control mechanisms for the future. “Following the policy of reducing the risky overseas business (especially auto business), the company has curtailed the share of its offshore business from 31 per cent (Rs1.3 billion) of total gross premium in 2000 to around 10-15 per cent in 2002”, Sohail said. The conservative approach in overseas (UAE) operations, together with decent gains from investment in stocks in the bull market of 2002, were the primary factors that could have swung the company out of the red.