February 10, 2023

IronRock Insurance Company Limited (ROC), for the year ended December 31, 2022 posted gross written premiums of $1.10 billion (2021: $881.21 million) representing a 25% increase. For the quarter, gross written premium amounted to $344.60 million (2021: $260.67 million), a 32% increase year over year.

Proportional reinsurance amounted to $880.04 million compared to $634.28 million in 2021. Excess of loss reinsurance amounted to $55.95 million (2021: $52.48 million), resulting in a net written premium of $168.26 million (2021: $194.45 million). For the quarter, net written premium amounted to $49.44 million, down 26% compared to $66.70 million booked in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

Net insurance premium revenue declined 11% to $168.44 million (2021: $190.28 million), while for the quarter, net insurance premium revenue declined 6% to $45.07 million (2021: $48.07 million).

Management noted “We had robust growth in gross revenue across all classes, but in particular our Engineering class, which benefited from insurance placements associated with the increased construction activity being experienced across the island.”

Commission expenses incurred increased 16% to $118 million (2021: $101.63 million), while commission income grew by 24% to $215.08 million (2021: $173.19 million).

Net claims declined 18% to $74.40 million (2021: $91.07 million).

Profit before operating expenses increased 12% to $191.12 million (2021: $170.76 million).

Operating expenses increased 12% to $210.96 million (2021: $188.78 million). As such, underwriting loss closed at $19.84 million (2021: loss of $18.02 million). For the quarter, the underwriting profit was $47.24 million (2021: $41.93 million).

Investment income increased 23% to $53.89 million (2021: $43.87 million). Miscellaneous income increased significantly to $3.38 million (2021: $13,000). Gain on sale of investment increased 5% to $10.37 million (2021: $9.85 million). Foreign exchange gain amounted to $4.16 million (2021: $25.13 million).

As a result, profit before taxation totalled $51.96 million (2021: $60.84 million). For the quarter, profit before taxation totalled $64.58 million (2021: $70.47 million).

There were no deferred taxation charges (2021: nil) and taxation charges (2021: $7.13 million) for the period. This resulted in a 3% decline in net profit to $51.96 million (2021: $53.71 million). For the quarter, net profit increased 2% to $64.58 million (2021: $63.34 million).

Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to $0.243 (2021: EPS: $0.251); while EPS for the quarter was $0.302 (2021: $0.296). The number of shares used in the calculations are 214,000,000 units. The stock price closed at $2.39 on February 9, 2023, with a corresponding P/E of 9.84 times.

Balance Sheet Highlights:

As of December 31, 2022, assets totalled $1.85 billion (2021: $1.54 billion), an increase of 20% year over year. This increase was mainly due to short-term investments, which increased 213% to $252.37 million (2021: $80.53 million) and reinsurance assets, which increased 41% to $577.53 million (2021: $408.32 million). However, the movement was tempered by a 42% decline in investments to $370.74 million (2021: $634.85 million).

Shareholder’s equity increased 8% to $668.79 million (2021: $619.65 million). This resulted in a book value per share of $3.13 (2021: $2.90).

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