KINGSTON, Jamaica – Last year was another record year for Guardian Life Limited, as the company improved its financial results for a third consecutive year.

According to a news release issued Monday, the company’s Consolidated Net Profit of $4.8 billion, surpassed 2014 results by $2.2 billion or 87 per cent.

The release said there were improvements in the company’s key performance indicators, which reflect in the results when compared to the 2014 financial year:

• Return on  Average Shareholders’ Equity of 47 per cent, up from 28 per cent;

• Return on Assets (ROA) of 8 per cent, up from 5 per cent;

• Earnings per share of $37.81, up from $20.23;

• Growth in Shareholders’ Equity of 13 per cent from $$9.64 billion to $10.86 billion;

• Solvency ratio of 213 per cent, significantly above the regulatory minimum of 150 per cent;

• Cost to Income Ratio (normalised) of 26 per cent, down from 27 per cent.

According to president, Eric Hosin, the consolidated net profit was driven by the strategic management of the company’s relationships with its stakeholders, the focus on new business growth, service excellence, liquidity and risk management, and operational efficiency.

Additionally, he noted that some external factors which positively impacted the financial results were the increase in domestic investments, which propelled the performance of the Jamaican Stock Exchange and the change in tax regime for life insurance companies to corporate taxation at 25 per cent effective year of assessment 2015. This change removed the normal gross premium tax levy at 3 per cent and investment income tax at 15 per cent.

The release also said that Net Results from insurance activities of $3.7 billion surpassed 2014 by 231 per cent due to improved Net Underwriting Revenue and, by a larger extent, to the reduction in Underwriting Expenses.

Net Underwriting Revenue of $9 billion increased by 7 per cent over 2014 with growth in all lines of business, through strong business retention and new business sales.

During 2015 the company also expanded its individual life product suite in response to customers’ needs.  For the financial year, the individual life sales team settled over $1.1 billion in new Annualized Premium Income (API), surpassing 2014 production by 7 per cent.