National Reinsurance profit jumps 81% to P417M in first nine months

National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines on Wednesday reported that its net income rose 81 percent to P417.5 million in the first nine-months of 2007. In the same period last year, National Reinsurance recorded P230.8 million in profit. "A crucial component of its performance over the past nine months is a 36-percent growth in its reinsurance premiums to P2.8 billion which helped propel PhilNaRe’s year-to-date net premiums retained to P769.5 million, a 30-percent increase over the same period last year," the company said in a statement. PhilNaRe’s investment and other income performance grew 45 percent to P375 million by the end of the third quarter 2007. “We have directed considerable focus and energy in shifting our business towards steadily building the company’s treaty portfolio, which benefited from an increase in premium rates," PhilNaRe president Wilfrido C. Bantayan said. Year-to-date general and administrative expenses decreased 17 percent to P89.9 million for the first three quarters of 2007 from PhP 107.9 million for the same period last year. The company said the decline was due to the absence of non-recurring expenses for the current year. - GMANews.TV