ICICI Lombard skids 6% as Q4 net profit falls 10% YoY to Rs 313 crore

NEW DELHI – Shares of ICICI Lombard General Insurance dropped 5.7 per cent in early trade on Friday after the non-life insurer reported a 10 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 313 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2022.

The firm had posted a net profit of Rs 346 crore in the corresponding period of 2020-21.

ICICI Lombard’s share price slid to a low of Rs 1,320 as against Rs 1,400.30 at the previous close on the BSE.

The gross direct premium income (GDPI) of the company stood at Rs 4,666 crore in the quarter under review as compared to Rs 3,478 crore in the year-ago period, ICICI Lombard said in a statement.

The company has proposed a final dividend of Rs 5 per share for FY22, it said, adding that the overall dividend including the proposed final dividend is Rs 9 per share.

The solvency ratio was 2.46 times in March 2022 as against 2.45 times on December 31, 2021, and higher than the minimum regulatory requirement of 1.50 times. The solvency ratio was 2.90 times on March 31, 2021, PTI reported.

For the full year 2021-22, the profit after tax or net profit declined 14 per cent to Rs 1,271 crore from Rs 1,473 crore in the preceding fiscal year.

"The increase in expenses is due to reclassification of segmental expenditure exceeding the mandated regulatory limits," the company's management was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg Quint report.

"Also, hiring of new sales agency managers has led to a higher expenditure, increasing expenses that are not commensurate with the business generated by the new agents,” the report said.