BusinessToday Previous Editions

2 NEWS 13.5.2021 MAPFRE Middlesea plc holds its 40th Annual General meeting MAPFRE Middlesea AGM was held re- motely and streamed live on its website. Commenting on the year under review, Chairman Martin Galea remarked that MAPFRE Middlesea and MAPFRE MSV Life have both performed well in spite of the pandemic. Both companies posted excellent re- turns. Whilst MAPFRE Middlesea posted a profit after tax of €4.12 mil- lion (2019 €4.01 excluding Group Div- idends), MAPFRE MSV Life posted a profit of €10.33 million (2019 €11.75 million) of which half is attributable to MAPFRE Middlesea (the remaining half being owned by the Bank). Due to these excellent returns MAPFRE Mid- dlesea will be issuing a net dividend of €3.20 million being 77.7% of the Com- pany profit. He stated that "From the outset of the COVID-19 crisis, MAPFRE Malta's immediate priority was to keep people safe, starting from the Company's em- ployees and their families, as well as their clients, and within a few weeks, the Company had to adapt to working remotely. "We have done our utmost to contin- ue to deliver an excellent service to our clients whilst ensuring that business has remained profitable. MAPFRE Malta proved to be resilient in the face of this pandemic, and will continue working to retain our position as market leaders and a benchmark in sustainability, so- cial commitment and trust", he said. "I must thank our employees, agents and TIIs who have worked so hard to en- sure our clients are well served in these trying times and who continue to have faith in us. We must continue to im- prove our service to them and remain the trustworthy insurance company." MAPFRE Middlesea CEO Javier Moreno said that the Company will continue forging ahead on the Group Strategic plan of "Transforming to grow and improve profitably". e Client Ori- entation, the Excellence in Technical and Operational Management, and the promotion of our Excellence in Culture and Talent remain our main driving forces". He reported that technical results im- proved over previous year as the near lockdown months and the lack of tour- ist visiting the island affected favourably the claim frequency particularly in Mo- tor. Fewer large losses occurred during the year with a lower effect on results compared to the previous year. MAPFRE Middlesea p.l.c., as a stan- dalone Company, registered a turno- ver of €75.12 million in gross premium written, a 1.0% increase over the previ- ous year registering a marginal increase in its market leadership share. e Company maintained a strong balance sheet, with its Shareholders' equity amounting to €77.05 million still maintaining a strong regulatory solven- cy position as at 31 December 2020 un- der the Solvency II regime. A final gross dividend in respect of year ended 31 December 2020 of €0.052434 per share amounting to a total dividend of €4,823,996 (2019: nil) was proposed by the directors and was accepted dur- ing the general meeting. is is equiv- alent to a net dividend of €0.034782 per share amounting to a total net dividend of €3,200,000 (2019: nil). Commenting on the Board's outlook for 2021 Chairman Martin Galea said "We expect that with the vaccine roll- out gaining traction and the pandemic spread restrained the economy starts heading to the much-needed growth. We expect the demand for general busi- ness to grow at a lower rate than that ex- perienced in recent years, while that for the protection savings and investments products in life to remain strong." Chairman Martin Galea concluded by thanking the Board of Directors, com- prising of Jose Ramon Alegre, Jose Ma- ria del Pozo, Jose Luis Jimenez, Joseph F.X. Zahra, Taddeo Scerri, Antoinette Caruana, Paul Testaferrata Moroni Vi- ani and the outgoing Alfred Attard for their continuous guidance and support. He also thanked Felipe Navarro for his contribution throughout his tenure. MAPFRE refers to MAPFRE Middle- sea p.l.c. (C-5553) and MAPFRE MSV Life p.l.c. (C-15722). Both entities are authorised under the Insurance Busi- ness Act, Cap 403 of the Laws of Malta and are regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. From the outset of the COVID-19 crisis, MAPFRE Malta's immediate priority was to keep people safe, starting from the Company's employees and their families, as well as their clients, and within a few weeks, the Company had to adapt to working remotely

• Cover