Date: May 28, 2019
Victoria Mutual Investments Limited (VMIL) held its 2nd annual general meeting today at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel subsequent to being publicly listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on December 29, 2017. Opening remarks were made by Chairman Mr. Michael McMorris, were he commended the company on a tremendous performance in its first year of operations as a listed entity. Here, through on-going commitment to their Unit Trust products, the Company secured the best performing Property Fund and second-best Equity Funds in 2018, he noted. With this, VMIL delivered a 15% increase in profit after tax from $346.3 million in 2017 to $397.6 million in 2018. Proudly, Mr. McMorris highlighted “we have been actively pursuing our vision to be a part of the leading Caribbean-based mutual provider of financial services”.
Notably, Mr. Rez Burchenson, former CEO of VM Pensions Management and former Deputy CEO of VMIL has been appointed to the post of CEO. Here he provided the following performance highlights for FY2018:
- Best performing Property Fund with returns of 7.57% (2017: 5.53%)
- Second best performing Equity Fund with returns of 28.68% (2017: 30.05%)
- Unit Trust Fund grew by 52.97% while the Trust Market share grew from 4% to 6%
- Introduction of two additional Unit Trust Products (i) US$ International Equity Fund and (ii) J$ Money Market Fund
- Entered the credit solutions business, offering: Insurance Premium Financing, Lease Financing and Receivables Financing
Mr. Burchenson however acknowledge that VMIL’s performance was impacted by a provision of credit loss of $105.44 million with the primary contributor being an impairment of GOB Bonds. Nonetheless, he indicated that this situation is being closely monitored. He also highlighted that the Board of Directors approved the following 5 year strategic plan in efforts to continue growing the business:
- Significant Growth in Net Income
- Aggressive growth in Assets
- Transformation of our client Experience
- Continued strengthening of our Team Member Engagement
Outlook for FY2019
Looking ahead, the following key initiatives were provided:
- Grow assets under management
- Introduce new unit trust products
- Roll out new sales model
- Continue to produce high quality research to drive real time decision making
- Increase focus on Venture Capital and Private Equity Type Investments for long to medium term gains
- Continue to improve Client Experience
- Continue to grow Capital Market Business through:
- Expanding reach outside of Jamaica
- Structuring unique products
- Fully underwriting more IPO transactions
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