Jun 2014 Financial News

Positive outlook for Sagicor Financial

Jun 13, 2014

PRESIDENT and Chief Executive Officer of Sagicor Financial Corporation, Dodridge Miller has given an upbeat outlook going forward for the financial services Group.

Yesterday he reviewed the Group’s operations for last year as well as for the first quarter of 2014 both of which showed healthy improvements in profitability and returns to shareholders.

The recently released results covering the three months January to March 31, 2014 showed the Sagicor Group recording net income of Bds$30.2 million, compared to $16.2 million for the corresponding three months in 2013.

Prior to that the 2013 results also highlighted improvements on those for 2012.
Speaking from Trinidad and Tobago via teleconference, Mr. Miller told the Barbados media that with the losses incurred at Sagicor at Lloyds and the sale of that entity now behind the Group, the outlook remains positive for the Sagicor’s Group continuing operations.

“If you look at 2013 and you take out the performance of Sagicor at Lloyds you will see that the core operations performed well and we expect that to continue in 2014 onwards and the group’s performance returns to its pre-crisis days of profitability,” said Mr. Miller. The USA operations have also been doing well.

Speaking also against the backdrop of some troubling economic issues confronting the majority of Caribbean islands where Sagicor does business, Mr. Miller said that the largest exposure was Jamaica. although there were improvements there.

“We understand that there are difficult times across the region but the diversification of the Sagicor Group and also with the strength of its balance sheet we believe we will be able to withstand the action if any, that may come at us,” he told the media.

The Sagicor official remarked that the Group’s core business is fundamentally strong and even though Jamaica had a debt restructuring programme last year “our Jamaica operations performed as planned,” he said.

He said that group is also doing well in Trinidad and Tobago. As regards Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean islands, there remains growth and while that is not as strong as in previous years it is “still commendable under the circumstances.”

“So the core business is very well diversified and we are seeing results in our main operations,” according to Mr. Miller.

Saying that 2013 was a year of clean up, Miller said that operation entailed putting certain initiatives in place which at the end of the year had a positive impact on the group. “But the core performance was quite strong,” he maintained.

Said Mr. Miller “If we take the continuing operations, that is, the non Lloyds’ operations and we add that to debt action in the Caribbean, the continuing operations which is what we will be going forward with after the sale of Lloyds, would produce Bds$202 million in profits for 2013,” he added.

Returns to shareholders in the 2013 were seven per cent and eight per cent annualised during the first quarter.

He said that expansion and diversification are not without risks. According to him, “some will go well others go badly. The Lloyd franchise is not easy to get into and get outof. We have finally done that the rest of our group is performing very well.”


Source:
Barbados Advocate
Friday June 13, 2014

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=business&NewsID=36902