The Middlesea Group made a pre-tax profit of €9.3million (Lm4m) in 2007, an improvement of 9.4% on 2006.

“This is the result of increased market shares and adherence to strict underwriting controls coupled with the management of expenses”, Mario C. Grech, Executive Chairman, said in a statement.

The Board of Directors, which met today, recommended a final dividend to shareholders of €0.1281 (Lm0.055) per share, amounting to €3.2million (Lm1.38m) an increase of 22.2% over the 2006 distribution.

The Board of Directors also proposed an increase in the authorised and paid up value of each share in issue from €0.582343 (the euro equivalent of the current value of Lm0.25) to €0.60. This increase would be funded through the capitalisation of distributable reserves amounting to €441,425.

The holding company, Middlesea Insurance plc, registered a pre-tax profit of €6.97million (Lm3m) during 2007, a growth of 7.8% over the 2006 profitability.

The specialised life assurance arm of the Group, the associate company Middlesea Valletta Life Assurance Company (MSV) registered a pre-tax surplus of €7.2million (Lm3.09m), an increase of 10.7% over the previous year. This result contributed a return to the Group of €2.63million (Lm1.13m) for 2007 when compared to €3.47million (Lm1.49m) in 2006.