CIC Insurance Group earned less than a fifth of its prior-year profit in 2025, with net income falling to KSh 513.8 Mn from KSh 2.86 Bn.
- •The group's underwriting book swung to a loss for the first time since the restated FY2022 base year and a KSh 1.0 Bn property revaluation gain that had supercharged 2024 earnings was absent.
- •In late February, CIC issued a profit warning guiding investors to expect a decline of at least 25%, implying profit of roughly KSh 2.14 Bn, but the actual number was Ksh 513.8 Mn.
- •The profit warning had already triggered a 17.9% single-day share price collapse, with the stock hitting an intraday low of KSh 4.59 and an estimated KSh 3.5 Bn in market value erased in one session.
The core problem was underwriting with the insurance service result, the cleanest measure of profitability under IFRS 17, deteriorated from a profit of KSh 788.2 Mn in 2023 to KSh 344.0 Mn in 2024 and swung to a loss of Ksh 176.0 Mn in 2025.
Insurance service expenses grew 16.4% to KSh 28.21 Bn while premium revenue grew only 11.8% to Ksh 29.46 Bn. Claims and costs outran the top line for the second consecutive year, and this time there was nothing large enough to cover the gap.
In 2024, that gap was covered generously with profit after tax nearly doubling to KSh 2.86 Bn, but the composition told a different story: net investment returns contributed KSh 3.82 Bn, inflated by KSh 1.37 Bn in foreign exchange gains and the KSh 1.0 Bn Kiambu land revaluation.
In 2025, the fx tailwind faded and the revaluation did not recur with net investment result falling 58.2% to Ksh 1.60 Bn. Operating profit dropped 61.6% to Ksh 1.75 Bn as Profit before tax fell 68.7% to KSh 1.25 Bn.
Asset management was the exception with revenue from that segment growing by 40.7% to KSh 1.78 Bn, the strongest line in the income statement and the clearest evidence that CIC's diversification beyond pure underwriting is generating real traction. Political violence claims in H1 2025, which included a KSh 134 Mn settlement to supermarket chain Naivas, illustrated the kind of episodic shock the underwriting book remains exposed to.
Total assets expanded 19.1% to KSh 73.75 Bn, driven by financial investment assets climbing to KSh 54.33 Bn, but total equity moved only from KSh 11.01 Bn to KSh 11.85 Bn. Zoom out and the divergence sharpens: total assets have compounded at approximately 11% annually from KSh 23.69 Bn in 2014 to KSh 73.75 Bn today, while equity has grown at just 4.6% per year over the same period, from KSh 7.21 Bn to KSh 11.85 Bn. The balance sheet has more than tripled in a decade. The equity base has not kept pace. That gap is funded by liabilities, primarily insurance contract obligations now standing at KSh 52.68 Bn.
Ahead of the results, CIC completed the sale of 50 acres neighbouring Tatu City and 100 acres in Kajiado, raising Ksh 1.8 Bn. Rating agency GCR had flagged the group's heavy capital concentration in undeveloped land, which the Insurance Regulatory Authority discounts heavily for solvency purposes. CIC retains 150 acres in Kiambu and 395 acres in Kajiado. The disposal gains will flow through the FY2026 income statement.
The earnings trajectory over the past five years captures both the recovery CIC achieved and how quickly it has unwound. Profit before tax was negative in 2020 at minus KSh 79.5 Mn during the Covid-19 downturn, rebuilt to KSh 959.7 Mn in 2021, and peaked at KSh 3.99 Bn in 2024 before collapsing to KSh 1.25 Bn in 2025. Earnings per share moved from minus KSh 0.09 in 2020 to Ksh 1.04 in 2024 and fell to Ksh 0.21 in 2025, though the comparison is not like-for-like: a KSh 261.5 Mn bonus issue during FY2025 enlarged the share count from 2.616 Bn to 2.877 Bn shares, diluting the per-share figure against the prior year base.
The board held the dividend flat at KSh 0.13 per share for a third consecutive year, implying a payout ratio of approximately 62% against FY2025 earnings, against just 12.5% in 2024. Shareholders on the register as of April 23 will receive payment on or about June 9.
