A year of consolidation throughout Latin America GRUPO SURA
continues to grow in terms of both profitability and corporate
governance
MEDELLIN, Colombia,
Oct. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo
de Inversiones Suramericana - GRUPO
SURA continues to provide a good level of results thereby
confirming the advances made with the consolidation of its
operations in Latin America at the
end of this past third quarter. YTD profits at September came to
COP 459,155 million (USD 255.0 million), that is to say 85.8% more
than for the same period last year. Also, and in keeping with its
ongoing strategy, the Company has reduced its total liabilities by
62.36% so far this year, having ended this past quarter with a
debt-to-asset ratio of 5.11%.
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In addition to approving Q3´s financial statements, the Group´s
Board of Directors announced that the posts of its Chairman and
Vice-Chairman shall be taken over by two independent members,
Armando Montenegro Trujillo and
Hernando Yepes Arcila, respectively.
This decision was taken to further the Group´s best practices and
international standards with regard to corporate governance.
GRUPO SURA was again included in
the Dow Jones Sustainability Index which benchmarks sustainable
business management, including aspects regarding corporate
governance and transparency practices. In this respect, the
Company's Chief Executive Officer, David
Bojanini, stated: "Our independent members, all top-ranking
executives, have always been key members of the Company's Board of
Directors, and now they shall be empowered to play an even greater
role. This decision is in keeping with GRUPO SURA´s firm conviction
and ongoing commitment to continue embracing the best practices
dictated by international corporate governance standards, so as to
continue boosting confidence among both our investors and the
market at large".
As for the Group´s financial results, our Q3 report contained
the following highlights:
- The subsidiaries of both SURAMERICANA (the Group´s social
security and insurance sub-holding) and SURA Asset Management (its
pension, savings and investment sub-holding) provided, through the
equity method, revenues of COP 283,365
million (USD 157.4
million).
- Dividend and interest income from investments came to
COP 198,727 million (USD 110.3 million),
- Profits from the sale of investments came to COP 63,418 million (USD
35.2 million), these corresponding mainly to the sale of a
4.90% stake in SURA Asset Management as announced in Q2 of this
year.
- The Company's assets totaled COP 20.1
billion (USD 11.2
billion).
- Total liabilities have dropped by 62.36% so far this year to
COP 1.0 billion (USD 569.9 million), for a debt ratio of 5.11%,
which is much lower than that posted at the end of last year.
- Shareholder equity at the end of Q3 2012 came to COP 19.1 billion (USD 10.6
billion).
- GRUPO SURA´s intrinsic share price came to COP 33,124.37 (USD
18.40).
The Company also did well on the local stock exchange, with the
local benchmark indices, the IGBC, COLCAP and COL20, up by 4.8%,
2.5% and 2.0% respectively. As a result, the price of GRUPO SURA's preferred share went from
COP 32,500 at the end of Q3 to
COP 33,300 at the end of Q3, having
gained 2.5% along with substantial share liquidity. Both the
Group´s ordinary and preferred shares obtained daily average trades
of COP 23.900 million, and indeed
GRUPO SURA continues to be one of
the top investment choices on the local stock market.
Subsidiary performance
As for the performance of GRUPO
SURA's two main subsidiaries, the following are the most
salient results:
- The companies that form part of SURAMERICANA, in Colombia, obtained premiums of COP 3.4 billion (USD 1.9
billion), for a growth of 17.1%, which was higher than the
market average. This insurance and social security sub-holding also
provided very good news during Q3 in terms of its growth, having
launched its SURA brand of insurance products in the Dominican Republic, and having received
official go-ahead to purchase Asesuisa in El Salvador. Consequently SURAMERICANA
reported a total of COP 201,721
million (USD 112 million) to
GRUPO SURA.
- Thanks to the good level of performance obtained in different
countries throughout Latin
America, net profits from SURA Asset Management, the
sub-holding representing the pension and savings assets acquired in
2011, came to COP 223,905 million
(USD 124.4 million), after the
amortization of deferred assets obtained from the ING acquisition
as well as adjustments for exchange differences, minority interest
and financial interest. This gratifying level of performance was
mainly due to higher commission income and returns on investment.
EBITDA came to USD 293.0 million, of
which Chile accounted for 39.5%,
Mexico 33.6%, Peru 18.6%, Colombia 4.8% and finally Uruguay with 3.5%.
It is important to note that SURA Asset Management provided
GRUPO SURA with 67.32% of its net
profits, this corresponding to the Company's total stake in this
sub-holding.
ABOUT GRUPO SURA
Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana –GRUPO SURA- is a Latin
American company listed on the Colombian Stock Exchange and
registered with the ADR- Level 1 program in the United States. It is also listed with the
Latibex Market for Latin American Stocks in Euros hosted by the
Madrid Stock Exchange. We are also one of the three companies from
the Latin American financial service sector to be admitted to the
Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), which monitors companies who
have become global benchmarks thanks to the good practices they
have adopted from the economic, environmental and social
standpoints. GRUPO SURA has been
awarded two investment grades (from Fitch Ratings and
S&P).
SOURCE GRUPO SURA