Dubai – Mubasher: The audited consolidated financial results of Islamic Arab Insurance Company (Salama) showed an increase in net profits attributable to the shareholders to AED 149.368 million in 2020, compared to AED 55.038 million in 2019.

The company's net underlying income decreased to AED 166.594 million in 2020 from AED 189.847 million in the previous year.

The company's gross written premiums rose by 5.5% to AED 1.17 billion in 2020 from AED 1.11 billion in the earlier year.

The basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) settled at AED 0.126 last year, against AED 0.046 in 2019.

The board has proposed a cash dividend distribution of 8.25 fils per share for the six months ended 31 December 2020.

Meanwhile, the company has incurred accumulated losses of AED 308.059 million, representing 25.45% of the capital, as at 2020.

Commenting on the company's performance, the Chairman of Salama, Jassim Alseddiqi, said: "Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, SALAMA has made strong headway in executing its new strategy and has more than doubled its net profit - I believe this is a rare achievement in the current climate."

It is noteworthy to mention that during the first nine months of 2020, the company's net profits attributable to the shareholders reached AED 137.06 million, up from AED 34.99 million in the year-ago period.