March 6, 2014

The General Assembly of Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company approved at their meeting held on Wednesday, 5^th March 2014 the cash dividend of 30% (BD 2,145,000) of the paid-up capital to the shareholders.

Mr. Abdullah Buhindi - the Chariman of the Company presents in the annual report the economic and political situation in Bahrain and Kuwait during the past year, and said that the company has achieved a few milestones that worth to mention. New corporate identity of the company, as a member of G.I.C group, Kuwait was launched during the year. The company has successfully implemented introduction of electronic communication and data sharing in respect of the Board and Committee meetings, thereby saving effort and money. The company has won the prestigious "MEIF Institutional Excellence Award" at the Middle East Insurance Forum, which was held in Bahrain under the sponsorship of Central Bank of Bahrain. Finally, for the third year in a row, A.M. Best awarded the company a financial strength rating of (A-) Excellent with 'Stable outlook' after a detailed review of the operations.

Mr. Ebrahim Alrayes said that the year 2013 proved to be yet another difficult period for the markets in which we operate, due to reasons beyond our control. We started the year with the hope and expectation that Government spending in Bahrain and Kuwait will help launch many key projects during the year but that unfortunately did not happen. In Bahrain, the delay in passing the budget directly resulted in non-implementation of many major projects, including some that were to be taken up with the aid promised by the G.C.C states. In Kuwait continued disagreements between the executive and the legislature resulted in holding up of key major projects. We sincerely hope that 2014 will usher in a period for economic growth through construction and development.

On the other hand, the year saw sudden spike in claims occurrence. While Bahrain market witnessed a spurt in Property losses, Kuwait suffered a worsening of losses under Motor class. This has directly affected our technical result and the underwriting profit fell from BD 3.96 Millions in 2012 to BD 3.32 Millions in 2013. The company's overall profits consequently slid from BD 4.2 Millions in 2012 to BD 3.7 Millions in 2013.

And the outlook for the year 2014, Mr. Ebrahim Al Rayes, the CEO of the company envisage the international prices of oil to remain at the current high levels and the non-oil sectors to perform better in 2014. This should reflect broadly in the growth of Bahraini economy during the year. Projects whose implementation has been delayed due to the late budgetary approval last year are expected to set out and activate other sectors of economy, including Insurance. In Kuwait, a number of projects in oil and government sector are expected to be announced and these in turn should provide necessary impetus to other sectors of economy. Political stability in Bahrain and Kuwait should greatly assist in setting the wheel of development in motion once again.

He also has stated that the three year business plan for the period 2014 to 2016 has been approved by the Board of Directors. The plan lays emphasis on expansion of personal lines business and the use of I.T to market the products and to improve services.

New board for the next three years has been formed, which comprises of ten members, out of which six appointed and four elected. Also, it should be noted that the GIC is the majority shareholder of the company which holds 56.12% of the shares of the company.