IRONROCK Insurance Company Limited was admitted back to trading on Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Tuesday, following the submission of its financial statements.

The notice was posted on Jtraderpro and sent to traders at the 14 JSE brokers before the market opened at 9 am, noting that the ordinary shares of IronRock could be traded again. This comes nearly three weeks following the July 2 suspension over its 2023 audited financials and first-quarter financials being well beyond JSE guidelines. There was no trading on Tuesday, which left the stock unchanged at $2.18 that translates to a market capitalisation of $466.52 million.

IronRock had sent JSE a notice last week that it was expecting to submit the financials by July 31, after missing its July 12 deadline. The publication of its audited financials means that it completes its regulatory requirements under the Insurance Act.

This leaves Productive Business Solutions Limited as the only company whose shares remain suspended by the JSE due to non-submission of the 2023 audited financials. The JSE has so far suspended five companies in 2024, with four being related to late audited financial statement submissions.

Due to the implementation of IFRS 17, which is the new accounting standard for recognising insurance contracts, IronRock’s 2022 figures have been restated to conform to the new standard. IronRock’s 2023 insurance revenue was up 41 per cent to $1.40 billion, a figure driven largely by the liability segment of business which was responsible for 57 per cent of revenue.

The company’s insurance result was up 90 per cent from $62.87 million to $119.72 million due to the increased insurance revenue. This figure differs from the unaudited fourth-quarter (Q4) report wherein the net insurance result was reported as $99.71 million.

After deriving higher investment returns from the higher interest rate environment, IronRock’s profit before taxation was 186 per cent higher at $103.10 million. After accounting for taxes, IronRock’s net profit was $83.96 million with an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.39. This is higher than the unaudited Q4 net profit of $66.77 million and $0.32 EPS.

IronRock’s 2023 was notable as it paid its first dividend of $0.0325 totalling $6.96 million in June 2023. This comes after the company listed on JSE Junior Market in March 2016. IronRock’s minimum capital test (MCT) ratio, a regulatory metric, improved from 271 per cent to 316 per cent — double the regulatory minimum of 150 per cent.

IronRock’s first quarter (January to March) saw the company grow insurance revenue by 29 per cent to $401.45 million, with the net insurance result being $13.86 million — an improvement to the $807,000 net insurance expense.

“The quarter under review was characterised by strong revenue growth, continued increase in expenses, and a reduction in claims incurred. The growth in revenue was facilitated by our successful reinsurance treaty renewal which resulted in IronRock obtaining a significant increase in capacity for property risks but we are also pleased to report good growth in our other non-property portfolios, particularly Marine Cargo,” said R Evan Thwaites, IronRock managing director, in the Q1 report.

The company’s investment return moved to $29.07 million, a 79 per cent rise compared to the $16.20 million in Q1 2023. After higher operating expenses and taxes IronRock reported a net profit of $5.53 million compared to a net loss of $11.63 million. This translated to an EPS of $0.03 relative to a loss per share of $0.05.

The company’s total assets at the end of March 31 were $1.54 billion, which was largely made up of $565.37 million in investments and $440.95 million in cash. Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity closed the period at $782.91 million and $756.21 million, respectively.

IronRock added Richard Fraser as an independent director and company secretary on May 1. IronRock now expects to submit its annual report by August 30, about four months after the April 29 deadline.