Balta to pay out dividends

The insurance group Balta will pay 0.21 lat (0.33 euro) in dividends per share for last-year profits, according to a decision approved at the company general shareholders meeting.

Balta posted profits of 1.5 million lats last year, of which 977,000 lats will be paid in dividends - the largest paid by Balta since 1997 when the company went public.

Balta did not pay out any dividends to shareholders for 2001, when Denmark's Codan became the company's sole shareholder and the stock was delisted from the Riga Stock Exchange.

After Codan completed a stock buyout, it later sold off 24 percent of Balta to the Europian Bank for Reconstruction Development and then an equal stake to the Danish Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe.

Balta Chairman Andris Laizans told shareholders that the company's operations last year were very good and that the main achievement was the boost in subscribed premiums and market share to 25.4 percent.

In 2002 Balta subscribed risk insurance premiums worth 25.5 million lats, up 27 percent from the previous year. Claims paid last year reached 11.1 million lats, up 16 percent on the previous year, making up 28 percent of the claims paid in the Latvian market sector.

The Balta Insurance Group includes risk insurance companies Balta and Rigas Apdrosinasanas Sabiedriba, as well as the Balta Dziviba life insurance company.