Rescued Abil set to return to trading

AFRICAN Bank Investment Limited (Abil) has been salvaged and is now a going concern and in the process of getting the suspension of its shares lifted, it said in its results statement released in midweek.

The JSE-listed portion of Abil will be renamed African Phoenix, the company said in the results statement.

It reported a net profit of R491million for the year to end-September.

The listed entity’s only remaining operating subsidiary is Standard General Insurance Company (Stangen) following the group’s split into a “good bank” (which is trading again as African Bank) and a “bad bank” (called Residual Debt Services Limited) along with its divestiture of the various furniture retail chains owned by Ellerines.

Abil’s shares were suspended in August 2014 when the Reserve Bank placed it into curatorship.

Stangen generated a profit of R84million, up from R69-million in 2015, before taking into account a discretionary actuarial liability of R189million.

“This is raised to allow for the shortfall in the exposure margins recovered from the in-force policy book compared to the future budgeted expenses envisaged in growing the insurance portfolio and generating new products and business,” the company said.

“The continuing operations are therefore profitable if one compares continuing operations premiums to the R14-million in actual claims, excluding the discretionary actuarial liability,” the company said. — BDLive