• The company posted a 196% increase in profit for the year to USD16.70 million, driven by elite underwriting discipline and investment gains.
  • The insurance service result more than doubled to USD14.04 million, representing a 154% improvement, driven by higher retention ratios and tighter claims management.
  • Total assets expanded 43% to USD298.28 million, and total equity rose 47% to USD89.08 million, supporting a 60% increase in dividend per share

Harare- Zimre Holdings Limited (ZHL) has recorded its strongest performance since the IFRS 17 transition, posting a 196% increase in profit for the year to USD16.70 million for the twelve months ended 31 December 2025. Insurance contract revenue grew 33% to USD82.41 million, while the insurance service result, the purest measure of underwriting profitability , more than doubled to USD14.04 million, representing a 154% improvement.

Total income rose 40% to USD122.16 million, underpinned by a 100% jump in short-term insurance income, 60% growth in property rental and sales revenue, and a sharp rise in fair-value gains on financial assets. The result lifted basic earnings per share 163% to 0.71 US cents and enabled the board to declare a final dividend of USD1.20 million (USD0.00065 per share), a 60% increase on the prior year. 

The quality of the earnings improvement is analytically striking, AS The reinsurance cluster, which still accounts for 56% of group income (down from 63% as diversification takes hold), delivered the bulk of the underwriting uplift through higher retention ratios, selective new business, and tighter claims management. Life and pensions contributed a growing 31% share of income on the back of organic growth in individual life products.

Property delivered a 60% income increase from higher turnover rentals and successful conversion of ZWG-denominated leases to USD terms, while fair-value gains on the investment portfolio, particularly listed equities on the Malawi Stock Exchange and Victoria Falls Stock Exchange via the Eagle REIT, added USD53.67 million in unrealised gains that flowed through profit or loss.

Net cash generated from operations nearly doubled to USD30.83 million, confirming genuine cash conversion rather than accounting-driven profits. Total assets expanded 43% to USD298.28 million and total equity rose 47% to USD89.08 million, leaving the group with a markedly stronger balance sheet to fund its stated “Great Africa Trek” expansion strategy.

 A qualified audit opinion accompanies the results, but its scope is narrow and non-cash in nature. Grant Thornton issued the qualification solely in respect of further refinements to IFRS 17 modelling assumptions and prudential margins at Fidelity Life Assurance of Zimbabwe, ZHL’s largest life subsidiary.

These changes triggered a restatement of 2024 comparatives (increasing insurance contract liabilities by USD4.68 million) but do not affect the 2025 numbers themselves. The auditors confirmed no other key audit matters and explicitly stated that the financial statements otherwise present fairly the group’s position. The restatement improves the reliability of future-period comparisons and reflects ongoing maturation of ZHL’s IFRS 17 implementation rather than any control weakness or misstatement of current-year results.

Geographically, Zimbabwe remained the dominant contributor, benefiting from 6.6% GDP growth, stabilised inflation at 11.2%, and a more predictable monetary environment. Regional operations in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana added meaningful scale despite softer local conditions in diamonds (Botswana) and agriculture (Malawi). The group’s deliberate shift toward a more balanced, regionally diversified book has reduced concentration risk while preserving the reinsurance cluster’s role as the earnings engine.

Strategically, ZHL enters 2026 in its strongest position in five years. After a period of consolidation and governance strengthening, management has articulated a clear next-phase agenda: customer-centric digital and AI investments, the launch of the ZHL Academy to build internal and continental technical capacity, and disciplined continental expansion anchored by the reinsurance platform.

The board’s decision to increase the dividend while retaining substantial cash-generation capacity signals confidence that the improved retention, expense discipline, and investment portfolio performance are sustainable. With total equity now approaching USD90 million and net cash from operations at USD30.8 million, ZHL possesses both the capital and the operational momentum to execute its Pan-African growth ambitions without compromising solvency or liquidity.

 In analytical terms, the 2025 results mark a decisive inflection. The combination of a 154% insurance service result expansion, near-doubling of operating cash flow, and a clean (post-restatement) balance-sheet expansion demonstrates that ZHL has moved beyond post-IFRS 17 stabilisation into genuine earnings-power growth. While fair-value gains provided a helpful tailwind, the core underwriting and cash metrics confirm that the improvement is fundamentally driven by better risk selection, cost control and portfolio coherence.

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