FMHL on solid footing despite covid 19
Staff Reporter
HARARE, First Mutual Holding Limited (FMHL) says it will continue as a going concern despite the ugly face of the covid 19 pandemic which has diminished the short term growth prospects of the economy and the Group.
The group however says the evolving nature of the pandemic will require continuous monitoring and assessment to establish the impact on operations.
“The client base of the Group includes customers that have been more severely affected by the pandemic and associated physical distancing measures such as lockdowns. The lockdown has resulted in disruption of
normal operations of the Group and its customers with impact varying from segment to segment which has resulted in the Directors re-assessing the ability of the Group to continue as a going concern.
The Directors are confident that the Group will continue to operate as a going concern into the foreseeable future with major segments of insurance, life assurance, health insurance afforded essential services status, hence no significant impact from the lock-down on the operating and financial performance of the Group.
The property subsidiaries’ major tenants are also within the essential services category. The Group has adequate liquid resources to continue to sustain its operations,” Noted FMHL The country went into a total lockdown end of March this year and later lifted it despite soaring numbers f of infections especially on the local space.
I its annual report FMHL said although, the Group does not expect to be materially impacted over the short-term, it was difficult to forecast the long-term impact on business.
“However, Directors are confident the steps taken to protect the Group from severe impact of the pandemic will yield positive results” said FMHL.
The group’s analysis shows that the lockdown had a medium impact on the manufacturing and industrial business units in the insurance and property segments respectively with low impact recorded in all the
other units.
To date the country has 2982 confirmed cases, 80 deaths and 1057 recoveries. In the 5 months to May 2020 the groups gross premium written was 439% up to ZWL 659.991 while net premium earned was 455% up to ZWL$478 million. Profit before taxation was ZWL 663,1 million
