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Insurance company Chesnara raised its interim dividend despite swinging to a pre-tax loss in the first half of the year owing to an impairment charge and losses resulting from the impact of the pandemic.
For the six months ended 30 June, pre-tax losses were £9.1 million, compared with a profit of £66.6 million.
'The swing to a loss included £25.0m of losses relating to economic market conditions, created by the Covid-19 pandemic, including an impairment of £11.6m to the Scildon AVIF intangible asset,' the company said.
Economic value fell to £604.2 million from £670m seen in at the end of last year, with the decreased largely the result of equity falls in the period, it added.
The group solvency ratio improved to 162% from 155%.
The interim dividend was raised 3% to 7.65p per share.
'The Chesnara parent company had liquid balances at 30 June 2020 of over £77m. This balance has accumulated in part as a result of our disciplined historic dividend strategy whereby we have prioritised the ability to sustain the dividend during difficult times over the payment of special dividends,' Chesnara said.
'In addition to this, the divisional solvency positions suggest that despite the difficult results during the first half of the year we would still expect material levels of dividend income from our divisions during 2021.'
'It remains too early to quantify the potential long-term impact on our financial performance arising from Covid-19,' it added.
At 8:28am: (LON:CSN) Chesnara PLC share price was -0.25p at 268.75p