Kenyan insurer Britam sees drop in profit

Kenyan insurer British American Investments (Britam) has said its profit this year would be lower than in 2014 due to a slowdown in the economy.

Companies whose earnings are expected to fall by 25 percent or more from the previous year are required by law to publish warnings.

“The decline in the group’s profitability is attributed to the downturn in the economic operating environment. This caused a slump in the performance of the Nairobi Securities Exchange, which had a significant impact on the fair value gains on the group’s financial assets,” Britam said in a statement.

Britam’s pretax profit in the first half of this year fell 67 percent to 1 billion shillings ($9.78 million), hit by lower valuations of the companies it has invested in.

It posted a 20 percent rise in 2014 pretax profit to 3.73 billion shillings.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange’s main NSE-20 Share Index is down 23 percent so far this year.

($1 = 102.2000 Kenyan shillings)