Bahrain National Holding Company (BNH) announced a net profit of BD1.63 million ($4.3 million) for the first quarter as against BD1.25 million for the same period last year.

BNH is the parent company of Bahrain National Insurance and Bahrain National Life Assurance.

BNH registered gross premium of BD7.4 million, an increase of 15 per cent compared with the same period last year, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Net earned premiums remained flat at BD3.5 million, it added.

The underwriting profits improved to BD0.56 million as against BD0.52 million for the same period last year, said the BNH.

Group assets as of March 31 increased to BD85.4 million from BD83.2 million as of December 31 last year.

Net investment income for the period increased to BD1.24 million, compared with BD0.83 million for the same period last year.

Income from associates rose to BD0.243 million compared with BD0.141 million last year.

Commenting on the results, BNH chairman Farouk Almoayyed said: "We are pleased with the continued strong performance in both underwriting and investment activities."

"We are satisfied with our results considering the competitive market conditions," stated BNH chief executive Sameer Al Wazzan.

"We have undertaken a number of initiatives to further improve our underwriting performance which we hope will bear results towards the end of the year," he added.-TradeArabia News Service