Asia Life’s AGM in Birgunj on June 28; no dividend this time around, as expected

ShareSansar, June 8:

Asian Life Insurance Company Limited is going to hold its Annual General Meeting in Birgunj on June 28.

The AGM to be held at Hotel Pujan in Birgunj sub-metropolis, however, will not pledge any dividend to the shareholders from the profit the insurer posted in the last fiscal year 2069/70.

Back in May, ShareSansar had reported that Asian Life might not be able to distribute bonus shares to the shareholders.

Though the company had posted a net profit of Rs 2.33 crore in the last fiscal year, the Insurance Board might ask it to provision a chunk of that profit thereby barring it from pledging dividend or bonus share, a highly placed source at the company had told ShareSansar.

There was rumor in the market that the life insurer is planning to pledge 20 percent bonus share for the last fiscal year.

“Insofar as the indication we are getting is that we might be able to pledge any dividend for the last fiscal year, and that as the current fiscal year itself is about to end, it may now be more realistic to think about dividend for the current fiscal year,” the source had said.

Asia Life had posted a net profit of Rs 2.33 crore in the last fiscal year – down from Rs 3.56 crore it registered in the previous fiscal year.

It may be noted that though Asian Life has been posting profit since the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2068/69, it was able to pledge only 8.29 percent bonus share for the fiscal year 2068/69.

Back in March 2012, the Insurance Board had lifted all sorts of ban on the insurer, including the ban on bank accounts of the company in different BFIs apart from ban on stock exchange transactions.

The regulator had stated that the ban was lifted after the company obeyed the directives given by the Board, including a directive to withdrawn all dividend distributed to the shareholders.

The regulator had also fined Rs 10,000 to the then Managing Director of Asian Life, Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai for carrying out works against the interests of the insurers and insured by distributing dividend overriding the Insurance Act.