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Baht/$ 33.59/61
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GOLD |
14,000
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INSURANCE
CHAROEN KITTIKANYA
Deves Insurance Plc, owned by the Crown Property Bureau, expects much greater flexibility and activity to support expansion plans to capture more retail customers after it is delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand. ''More active and aggressive marketing activities are definitely anticipated, once the delisting process is completed,'' said president Anant Keskasemsook. ''We expect to become much more flexible in setting aside our expense in marketing and advertising.''
The Crown Property Bureau launched a tender offer for the outstanding shares at 188 baht each following shareholder approval of the company's delisting. As a result of the tender offer that ended on July 25, the bureau acquired 1,311,269 shares or 10.927% of the total, raising its holding to 98.28%.
According to Mr Anant, the company expects to be officially delisted from the SET by late this month or early next month.
He said the company expected to be able to allocate 4-5% of sales to support marketing and advertising compared with less than 2% previously.
In an attempt to offset an expected fall in premiums from aviation and property, Deves Insurance is actively gearing up this year to expand its business portfolio to the personal line and retail market.
''The property and casualty insurance industry has now been entering a soft market where premium growth in most underwriting sectors is declining or negative. We expect premiums generated from the segment, particularly for aviation and petrochemical coverage, would drop 20-25% further this year after a fall of 200-300 million baht a year earlier.''
Property and casualty insurance last year contributed 60-70% of the company's total, with personal lines, excluding motor insurance, providing only 2%. Motor insurance comprised 27%.
However, a portfolio shift appeared this year, with motor insurance increasing to 37% of the premium portfolio, and personal lines such as health, travel and personal accident increasing to 5%.
Mr Anant said Deves aimed to raise premiums from personal lines, excluding motor insurance, to at least 30-35% of its portfolio over three to five years.
To achieve that goal, the company launched new products yesterday such as an income protection policy, household insurance and cancer insurance.The income protection policy will be a priority as the company has invested over 25 million baht in marketing and advertising during the period of August to December this year. The advertising programme includes new TV commercials to be aired continuously for two months starting from August, printed media, websites and billboards.
Income protection coverage would target mainly white-collar workers, offering the insured maximum coverage up to six times their monthly salary in case of unemployment because of critical illness or company liquidation.
Deves Insurance reported gross premiums last year worth 2.82 billion baht, up 4% from 2006 but lower than 3.27 billion baht in 2005.
The company expects to generate 2.858 billion baht this year.
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