Kenya's Britam posts 20 pct jump in 2014 pretax profit

NAIROBI (Reuters) - British-American Investments Company (Kenya) Ltd (Britam) said on Friday its 2014 pretax profit rose by a fifth, lifted by a jump in revenue from the insurance business. Revenue from insurance rose 56 percent from 2013 to 14.74 billion shillings ($160.3 million), sending pretax profit higher by 20 percent to 3.73 billion shillings, said Britam. The Kenyan diversified financial services company also has operations in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Mozambique and Malawi. Insurance is seen as a potential growth sector in the region because of low penetration in the region. Only about 7 percent of the 44 million people in Kenya, east Africa's biggest economy, have any form of insurance. Total revenue rose to 20.69 billion shillings from 15.13 billion in 2013, while total assets increased to 72.98 billion shillings from 46.90 billion. Earnings per share rose to 1.47 shillings from 1.19 shillings, and the company recommended a dividend payment of 0.30 shillings per share, up from 0.25 shillings the previous year. ($1 = 91.9500 Kenyan shillings)