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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 MAY 2021 16 COMMERCIAL MAPFRE Middlesea plc holds its 40th Annual General meeting MAPFRE Middlesea AGM was held remotely and streamed live on its website. Commenting on the year under review, Chair- man Martin Galea remarked that MAPFRE Middlesea and MAPFRE MSV Life have both performed well in spite of the pandemic. Both companies posted excellent returns. Whilst MAPFRE Middlesea posted a profit after tax of €4.12 million (2019 €4.01 excluding Group Dividends), 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 MAP- FRE Middlesea will be issuing a net dividend of €3.20 million be- ing 77.7% of the Company profit. He stated that "From the outset of the COVID-19 cri- sis, MAPFRE Malta's immedi- ate priority was to keep people safe, starting from the Compa- ny's employees and their fami- lies, as well as their clients, and within a few weeks, the Com- pany had to adapt to working remotely. "We have done our utmost to continue to deliv- er an excellent service to our clients whilst ensuring that business has remained profita- ble. 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 bench- mark in sustainability, social commitment and trust", he said. "I must thank our employ- ees, agents and TIIs who have worked so hard to ensure our clients are well served in these trying times and who continue to have faith in us. We must continue to improve our ser- vice to them and remain the trustworthy insurance compa- ny." MAPFRE Middlesea p.l.c., as a standalone Company, reg- istered a turnover of €75.12 million in gross premium written, a 1.0% increase over the previous year registering a marginal increase in its market leadership share. The Compa- ny maintained a strong balance sheet, with its Shareholders' equity amounting to €77.05 million still maintaining a strong regulatory solvency po- sition as at 31 December 2020 under the Solvency II regime. A final gross dividend in re- spect of year ended 31 Decem- ber 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 during the gener- al meeting. This is equivalent to a net dividend of €0.034782 per share amounting to a to- tal 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 rollout gaining traction and the pan- demic spread restrained the economy starts heading to the much-needed growth. We ex- pect the demand for general business to grow at a lower rate than that experienced in recent years, while that for the protec- tion 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 Maria del Pozo, Jose Lu- is Jimenez, Joseph F.X. Zah- ra, Taddeo Scerri, Antoinette Caruana, Paul Testaferrata Moroni Viani and the outgoing Alfred Attard for their contin- uous guidance and support. He also thanked Felipe Navarro for his contribution through- out his tenure. MAPFRE refers to MAPFRE Middlesea p.l.c. (C-5553) and MAPFRE MSV Life p.l.c. (C-15722). Both en- tities are authorised under the Insurance Business Act, Cap 403 of the Laws of Malta and are regulated by the Malta Fi- nancial Services Authority. FINANCEMALTA is holding a series of podcasts, aimed at trig- gering a discussion about topical aspects of the world of financial services. In 'The FinTalks: a chat with FinanceMalta – Mem- bers edition' the members of the Foundation will be sharing their views and ambitions for the sector. In the latest epi- sode of 'FinTalks', published today, listeners will meet Car- melo Romano from FinXP, an electronic money institution which enables its customers to quickly and easily make and receive payments. In upcoming episodes, 'FinTalks' will meet Jonathan Vassallo from Dixcart Management Malta Limited, a corporate service provider which specialises, among oth- ers, in the incorporation and management of companies, fund administration, trust and fiduciary services. 'FinTalks' has already caught up with a number of leaders from the fi- nancial services sector, among whom, Dr Geraldine Spiteri Lucas from the Malta Busi- ness Registry, Dr Andre' Zerafa from the Malta Asset Servicing Association, Kenneth Farrugia, Alexander Mangion and Con- suelo Marzi from the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, Ian Meli from the MFSA, Stephen McCarthy from the Malta Dig- ital Innovation Authority as well as Cain Grech from Malta Enterprise. 'FinTalks' is a series of pod- casts produced by FinanceMal- ta, presented by Angele Spiteri Paris and Rachel Attard. FinanceMalta triggers discussion on financial services JAYE Malta has hosted its hotly anticipated National Finals on- line for a second year running, with the 2021 award-winners now set to compete virtually at a European level. Held each May, the Finals are an opportunity for student teams from across JAYE's en- trepreneurship programmes to present their work to expert independent judging panels. Due to the challenges present- ed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however, all partic- ipants in this year's event pre- pared for it without ever meet- ing their teammates in person, instead working together virtu- ally from start to finish. The Finals resulted in win- ning teams from across JAYE's range of programmes and in a series of categories. As well as the coveted Company of the Year Award, the 'Candid' team won the Chamber of Com- merce Membership Award and the Atlas Digital Marketing In- novation Award. Team 'Mycro Pixel Studio' was presented with the Far- sons Ready for Work Award, while 'Unlimited' took both the Deloitte Best Business Plan Award and the EQF Quality Excellence Award. From the StartUp programme, the StartUp of the Year Award went to the 'Silentsave' team, completing an impressive run of wins for the team at the Finals that also included the Chamber of Commerce Mem- bership Award, the PwC Con- cept Validation Award, Tech. mt Digital Innovation Award, the Switch Take Me To Mar- ket Award and the Public Vote Award. Meanwhile, the Enter- prise Ministry Sustainability Award was presented to the 'Unpuzzling Food' team, Glenn Bugeja received the JAYE John Harper Award and team 'Flo-Pot' won the JAYE Philip Bonnet Award for Persever- anceThe winners will go on to virtually compete at multiple prestigious European compe- titions, as well as becoming official JA Alumni and part of the global JA Alumni network. More information about JAYE Malta may be found online at www.jayemalta.org JAYE Malta National Award winners announced