Forgive one for saying .. but it looks like I & others haven't missed out on anything much
in just over a month while busy elsewhere .. ;)
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I see Suncorp has settled with EQC which is interesting. Details are commercially sensitive so we don't know what split they agreed but this has to be slightly good news for Tower as Suncorp have got a settlement without going to court. Will Tower announce a deal with EQC at their half year results?
https://www.afr.com/companies/financ...0201118-p56fr1
IAG found liable to pay for business interruption costs & losses due to Covid-19.
TWR offers business interruption insurance so could be impacted.
Lets hope this doesn't impact Tower here in NZ as IAG are taking this seriously, as they should. Australian ruling but one does wonder if this will open some doors for challenging claim outcomes here in NZ
IAG Group statement
"From a financial perspective, given the anticipated increase inbusiness interruption-related claims, we’ve announced today an estimatedpost-tax provision of approximately $865 million to cover pandemic relatedlosses. In response to this, we are undertaking a capital raising of up to $750million to help strengthen our balance sheet. This will be via a fullyunderwritten institutional placement of $650 million, and a non-underwrittenshare purchase plan up to $100 million for our retail shareholders.
Thats good news and hopefully same for Tower .Thanks for update
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/363819 - finally settled!
That's only 76% of the already heavily written down amount though!
So yet another year ruined by a "one off" write down from the Christchurch earthquakes. $9.5m from net profit so more than that excluding the tax benefit.
Not really that impressive.
Still no Div likely ;)
Custies seem to be getting best end of the stick with Tower on all the feel good promo's
and Holders get ignored again & again & again (until TWR have need to come knocking for
another Cap Raise)
Not a Holder nor have been for some time - the future prospects based on past TWR track record
dont really inspire or excite either !
Here is the numbers from the HY report relating to the EQC claimable. Amazing how TWR have got their risk margins wrong every single year since the earthquakes. :sleep:
Actual amount recieved: $42.1mQuote:
EQC recovery receivable ($ thousands 31-Mar-20)
EQC related to closed claims 76,900
EQC related to open claims 1,300
Risk margin on EQC receivable (9,200)
Receivable from EQC 69,000
EQC payable to reinsurers on closed claims (17,000)
EQC payable to reinsurers on open claims (300)
Risk margin on EQC payable to reinsurers 2,300
EQC payable to reinsurers (15,000)
Receivable from EQC net of reinsurance 54,000
Full year tomorrow ...intake it will be in $25m to $28m range
Guidance F21 could be interesting.
“We now have a very strong capital position and will provide a further update in relation to dividend payments with our 2020 financial year results announcement tomorrow.”
Sounds encouraging, we could get a (tiny) 50% NPAT divi announced tomorrow considering profit will be lower from the writeoff and the 10.5-12.5m harold/timaru hailstorm expense.
Although wouldn't be suprised if they complain the RBNZ holding them back.
Just imagine if we had no dodgy weather for a year, Tower would be stacked :t_up:
In such a unique uneventful year, undoubtedly planning to stack some more unfortunate stakeholder loot
to bankroll a further acquisition that just mysteriously appeared out of nowhere could never be
discounted - rather than shelling out even a token dividend .. ;)
Just to show that no-one has fallen asleep at their desks in the TWR control towers .. ;)
Beat guidance
Should be good for the share price
http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-websit...840/335912.pdf
The reason for the drop .
I brought a few at 62.5 cents at open.
All the talk of digital sales and claims got me excited..lol.
"Tower CEO Blair Turnbull, who joined the company in August 2020, says the company’s digital and data
strategy is a game changer and is laying the groundwork to fundamentally transform how we deliver
insurance in New Zealand and the Pacific."
“Digitisation allows Tower to reach customers in new and exciting ways. As a result of our simplified online
processes, two-thirds of new business is now coming through online channels and close to half of all claims
are being logged online. Less than a year ago we launched MyTower, a fully online sales and service portal,
and since then we’ve had over 50,000 people register. It’s this type of innovation that will set us apart,” says
Turnbull.
Indeed .. yet another exciting & rewarding experience for poor unfortunate holders of TWR contributory dreadfuls
NTA - Static
EPS - Down not quite half mast
DPS - All Zero's
Rewards all dished out to Policy Holders (all $7.2 mil of it)
Stakeholders once again get left hung out to dry another duration, it seems
No wonder the TWR SP always seems to head south fairly quickly
Discl: Not a Holder
There is some useful strength in underlying metrics, but it is no surprise the market is applying a significant discount to the possible true value. This is most likely due to lack of confidence in managements ability to do their core job of estimating risks accurately. Going back to page 44 of the 2018 annual report page Tower estimated that the net EQC receivable was $52m and a risk margin of $10.1m had been allowed in this figure so something over $62m was expected. The 2019 accounts again had a net $53m so while a net $42.1m is good to see, it is $20m short of what was implied a couple of years ago.
The 2018 annual report indicated full provisioning for the Canterbury earthquakes with a $5m additional risk margin. Again on page 44: "...and the remaining $5.0m is expected to be released once the Canterbury Outstanding Claims Liability has sufficiently run off."
The Actual 2019 result included an additional net claims expense of $6.048m. This theoretically increased provisioning to 148% of likely expenses. Was this enough? No.
The 2020 result included additional provisioning with amounts of $2.4m and $2.7m referenced in different places. At least the $5m risk margin still exists.
But management then have the cheek to state "The Canterbury portfolio is performing in line with expectations in most areas. The after tax strengthening of $2.7m for FY20 represents the lowest annual increase since 2014".
If it was performing inline with expectations, the 2020 P&L would have had no incremental expense, and part of the $5m risk margin being credited back increasing the surplus. As I write this I'm not surprised the share price declined with the result.
So now it seems Tower's brilliant leadership team plans to use the excess funds to go shopping rather than returning it to shareholders. They raised the $47 odd million last year from shareholders to prop up their capital adequacy because the reserve bank wouldn't accept the (then) EQC receivable as part of their capital adequacy. Now they have finally go their hands on the EQC money (albeit somewhat diminished) they don't think that they are obliged to give it back to shareholders, instead they look around for some other way they can spend it - jeez, what a crew!
Do they look at the share price performance and pat themselves on the back, telling themselves that their shareholders are happy with their strategy? What world do they live in.
And don't get me started on the return of premiums re covid lockdown.
These people don't need to be buying other insurance books, they need to be bought themselves and maybe then their long-suffering shareholders can be put out of their misery
Love the way they say underlying profit excluding large events increased 23% on the prior year to $34.7m,
Tower like all insurers use the old its climate change trick when they talk about 'large events'
They only getting their comeuppance - or whoever paying them back (penalising them) for the all the years insurance companies propped up the oil and mining industries by 'investing' their vast amount of premiums in such dirty industries
Some might say karma
One thing that should not be underestimated - the successful transformation of the legacy IT systems (and the massive expenditure on this), is going to be very advantageous over the coming years.
Tower have not only essentially completed the replacement and move, also migrated their own book plus another insurers book into this system in quick succession.
These types of projects not only usually have a high failure rate, they often don't move anywhere near as quickly.
Reaching a settlement with EQC, alongside the new agreement going forward for future events, will reduce the issues encountered with CHCH that are still ongoing.
It is less than 100% sure, but as others have noted better than further years of litigation and uncertainty.
I believe the idea behind excluding large events was to enable more reasonable year to year comparisons. This is based on the idea that large events don't happen with the same frequency or impact in every year. Not sure how true that is these days but it stands.
The wording around the dividend resumption would have been better received if acquisitions wasn't mentioned. Understand the general market conditions wording makes sense.
Dividend stream has been dry since 2016. Looking back prior to those days dividend stream was 6-10c per year so maintaining the cost control and bringing back even a part of that would reassure.
I couldn't find a stated dividend policy?
Regardless of how FY21 goes, this is more of a FY22 story if you have the patience.
The covid premium refund is a tricky area. Insurers do offer discounts for low usage of vehicles, as this reduces risk. So this could be similar.
Claims massively dropped for all the industry players.
Insurance is an industry that operates under the idea of utmost good faith, so hopefully this gesture is seen well by customers in years to come.
General insurance is a product that is very easy to switch and compare at the moment so goodwill is valuable.
Antipodean said - I believe the idea behind excluding large events was to enable more reasonable year to year comparisons.
I believe so
Bit like casinos often ‘normalise’ profits by using expected returns from the high rollers.
Some years the big guys beat the house and some years the house does well ...but casino provides a profit number that gives reasonable comparatives year by year
Spose insurance is a bit like a casino ..place your byes and hooe for the best
But do they exclude the premium & investment income also - generated off years of covering
Larger more extreme events - levied at presumably the appropriate costed risk rate ?
It seems like more TWR Insurance gibberish & BS to cover their Asses IMO
(ie: just a further bundle of Accounting Window dressing from the TWR Dividend shirkers)
How many normal years would they have where there was only the likes of a heirem of TWR Insured Joe Bloggs's
making claims for hitting their Letterboxes and like minor claims ? ;)
Nice story... but TWR invests in bonds and mostly government and bank bonds at that. From the HY report:
Insurers have done more than most in signalling the future costs and risks of climate change. Not least via their risk adjusted premiums on things like beachfront properties.Quote:
Tower has a low risk tolerance and therefore the majority of its investments are in investment grade supranational and bank bonds.
Pleasing seeing the chairman brought 200,000 shares at 60 cents increasing his holding.
Old saying says plenty of reasons directors sell shares, but only one reason they buy them.
He potentially bought more today too Percy. The depth was extremely weak and yet someone just hit the ask for 100k+ shares. Looked more like someone trying to help the share price than get the best entry price!
Looking back into the announcement history for Michael Stiassny:
5Feb2014 - Initial disclosure of 82,335 shares
2May2016 - Acquired 397 shares from estate
7Dec2017 - Acquired 80,000 on-market @ 62.6c ave
14Dec2017- Acquired 150,000 on-market @ 68.3c ave
20Dec2017 - Took up 42c rights + 82,732 shares
23Oct2019 - Took up 56c rights + 98,866 shares
26Nov2020 - Acquired 200,000 on-market @ 60.0c ave
Current new holding 694,330. This is the largest purchase to date, and also the first on-market purchase in over 3 years. I'd agree with JohnnyTheHorse that there's a good chance this wasn't just a 200k purchase but nearer 400k including the circa 200k bought at just before mid-day on the 30th. The on-going disclosure notice was filed at 3.17pm on the 30th.
Also is that the 30day MA just crossing the 100day MA (directbroking chart)?
CEO and a Director have also taken reasonable sized positions post announcement. I'm still expecting a further update from yesterdays acquisition not covered by the disclosure notices so far.
1 million share also just crossed at 61.
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/364276
Disc: trading position.
Huge volume crossing at ever higher prices...
Just over $500 to insure you boat seems reasonable
Another few mill to the bottom line ...cool
http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-websit...421/336707.pdf
Bought a bolt-on already. A bit hard for us to know whether this is good or bad without disclosure of how much they paid.
https://www.nzx.com/companies/TWR/announcements
My reading was that the cost is some sort of ongoing referral fee to Club Marine. No cash upfront. Its unclear if this referral fee is one-off as customers sign up or ongoing like banks ongoing payments to mortgage brokers. Either way it should be factored into the pricing to make it profitable business for Tower.
Some decent volume trades today and up another cent...:ohmy:
Chairman & CEO buying in big, large crossings happening each day at higher price each day... Am expecting this to finally get a 'Covid bounce' back to the 75-80c range.
General insurance referral costs are typically one off, as each renewed (usually 12 month period) contract is effectively a separate product with potentially all new terms and conditions.
Quite different to life insurance with long trailing annual fees until the life insured cover contract is terminated.
If I had to guess it would be a simple per policy cut ($ or %) of the first years premium.
I received an email from Tower that I can get a discount of $50 on your insurance premium, but there is for new sign up.
Certainly been some interesting trading lately... take over offer coming? I'd probably take $1.50+ if so.
Highest weekly volume in 2.5 years so is very very notable. Latest crossings were at 66c so I see that as the new floor price. When you see crossing each day at higher and higher prices on massive bull volume you know this has momentum and will likely keep going. It's looking like it'll break the resistance zone of 66.5c. Next major resistance area after that is 75-80c.
And another director has picked up an extra 100,000 shares...
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/364511
Bain Capital is still holding their 19.99% stake, so in my view some form of takeover is inevitable at some point. The question is whether Bain see value in PE control, or whether they are shopping it around for a sale. Maybe with the EQC issue finally sorted the platform is set?
5 directors have brought over 600k of shares in the past week ish... certainly can't be a bad thing
I have a strong feeling dividends will shortly be back on the table
Up 4.3% today, haven't seen that in a very long time
This is a good initiative
Hopefully get rid of some the dodgy drivers off their books ...or make them pay more
Stuff the do gooders ...businesses must make money
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/...-law-professor
Why the negative energy towards Tower Winner? This also makes the roads safer over time.
It isn't even new, Tower has had a similar app for a few years, they have just upgraded it.
Apple, Google and Facebook have similar data. At least Tower are governed under NZ law so if we collectively decide this kind of surveillance is not for our society, it can be outlawed.
So SALT's been selling more shares.
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/364579
Between the 2nd and 15th they have sold another 4.5m. Over this period 11.1m sold on the NZX, so SALT contributed about 40% of the sale side volume over the last couple of weeks. Despite this, TWR has gone from 62c on the 1st Dec to 73c on the 15th Dec (72c today). Pretty good going to have an increasing price as someone is actively selling down.
This points towards further upside when SALT stops selling.
The category 5 Cyclone Yasa currently heading for Fiji presumably has the potential to add the the high claim rate suffered since 30 September:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-...arama/12988514
For the sake of all Fijians and TWR shareholders, here’s hoping it changes course before it is due to hit later Thursday.
Basically Salt was running money for AMP. AMP has decided to be passive so Salt has to reduce. Same in NWF and, in part why there is so much stock coming out. Actually including all the other stock. A bit of a normal occurrence
I guess this isn't anything particularly unexpected for Tower, cyclones happen regularly.
95% of Fiji houses don't have cyclone cover and those that do are required (By Tower, at least) to have an engineer's certificate as to the appropriate construction. Also requires home owners to have cyclone shutters fitted and closed during the currency of storm warnings.
Tower also doesn't appear to cover damage from storm surges or flooding associated with cyclone even when house is insured
Nothing complements a home like security and peace of mind. A strong house is a safe house that will protect your property, your possessions but most importantly, your family. No matter the weather, homes should be built to last and endure any season.
In Fiji, where the last cyclone season saw eight pass through the region, a house that can withstand damaging conditions is necessary and worth the investment.
For your home to be rated cyclone-certified it needs an engineer certificate stating the house can withstand cyclones.
This requires that your home’s structural design and build is in accordance to wind load standards, and only then can your home be accordingly cyclone-certified and insured.
Such building standards significantly reduce the effects of cyclones. With Cyclone Winston, we saw a vast difference in the damage experienced in homes that were built to this standard compared to those that weren’t.
It’s important for home owners to understand that cyclone-certified houses are safer.
They are not just a channel for house insurance, but will firstly serve their purpose of protecting your family and property, your most important assets.
Therefore, it is a crucial investment to have your property built to standards that will protect them.
At a rare Category-5 rating, Tropical Cyclone Winston destroyed homes that were cyclone-certified. Home owners who invested in cyclone cover with TOWER Insurance were financially cushioned.
Insurance provides additional peace of mind to those who build their treasured homes to a standard that can withstand cyclones.
No doubt there will be costs, and Tower will advise shareholders in due course, I'm not expecting the costs to be all that significant (I could be wrong though)
GLTAH
Harold in April this year seemed to have an adverse impact on Towers financials (v forecast)
No idea whether this is a similar event
Has the Head Honcho contingent's apetite at TWR's board table run out of buying puff ? ;)
or perhaps just gone on holiday early to mull over whether Fiji's weather systems will come this way ? ;)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...p-in-hailstorm
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/...ing-hailstorm/
Another month, another weather event for the insurance industry.
"A fruit growers association in Motueka in the Nelson area says yesterday's hail storm may have wiped out so much fruit the labour crisis is somewhat averted.
The association's president says some growers lost their entire crop in the storm.
Richard Clarkson says it will cost "millions of dollars", and the district and entire country would feel the impact."
In generalities... yes more weather events reported, and yet, general insurance seems to be profitable year after year.
Even in NZ where our insurance companies have spent decades being taken over... must be some value in that?
In specificities... I'm not certain Tower has a high percentage of the Motueka fruit growing industry business assets/interruption coverage. Also "millions of dollars" sounds bad... but I suspect Mr Clarkson may be referring to the full economic impact of the lost product. Including sales, employment, rates, costs, knock on effects with other companies etc. Business cover terms and conditions will vary, however unlikely this is all is covered by whomever is insuring said growers.
Most product systems can identify and track weather related events if the company wants to, compare local to international data sets and decide if long term premium rates need to be adjusted in a global or more targeted way.
If identified, can be handled.
Still a question mark hanging over impact of recent Pacific storm, probably more important in my mind to keep an eye on. More of a concrete relationship to Tower's bottom line.
That being said, for disclosure I'm accumulating as the long term story here is appealing to me.
All sorts of interesting things to play out in TWR's next period reporting now (for more excuses ?) ;)
- Fiji Storm
- Napier Flooding
- Motueka Hail & Storm
Anyone care to bet on how well what many may have hoped looked like sniff of a small dividend
will be well sliced & diced up now on extraordinarily ordinary events .. ? ;)
I’m not aware that TWR are big in the crop insurance space but assume they will have some exposure to property and motor vehicle damage caused by the hail storms. Hail damage to motor vehicles can be big claim events in the insurance industry. Based on my capital solvency comments below, I don’t think these events will have a significant impact on any decision to pay a dividend in FY21.
TWR undertook a capital raise in late 2019 because the RBNZ refused to allow the disputed EQC receivable to be taken into account for solvency capital purposes. With the claim now settled (albeit for 76% of the carrying amount in the financial statements), my assumption is that this settlement (and profits earned since 2019) means that TWR now has excess solvency capital which leaves it well placed to grow its book (organically or inorganically) or to return surplus capital to shareholders.
My my preference is that TWR has opportunities to invest the capital profitably and grow the business. If those opportunities aren’t available, the capital should be returned to shareholders. The 2020 annual report indicates that TWR has only $271,000 of imputation credits and tax losses that result in a deferred tax asset of $25.7m (if all in NZ this would amount to gross tax losses of approximately $91.8m), so TWR won’t be paying any tax in NZ for quite a few years and therefore won’t be in a position to impute dividends. Surplus capital should therefore be used to undertake an on-market share repurchase or a pro-rata share cancellation (if the applicable tax thresholds can be met). Unimputed dividends are not shareholder friendly!
Director Wendy buys 10,000 more shares
Must be confident no big claims from weather events over the weekend
I'm sure your comment is tongue in cheek, however it's not as if she bought them today.
TWR would have to be one of the most undervalued, or perhaps the most undervalued stock on the NZX right now... then again, that isn't saying much as many stocks are either ridiculously overvalued or at least overvalued.
There have been significant director purchases recently (something not really happening on any other NZX stocks) and that can only be good one would think.
Chairman has been buying and buying over the last few years - first significant purchase being in 2017.
http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-websit...986/271844.pdf
Hopefully his faith will be rewarded along with those who follow him into Tower shares.
Agree with what you're saying. I think with things going digital risk premiums are going to become far more accurate and go upwards. Most people have probably already seen this already with their own insurance.
With Bain holding ~20% I see this mainly as a takeover play. They are surely shopping it around.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/na...uined-by-rain/
Losses could be as high as $50m and more if the rain does not stop.
This covered by insurance?
Interesting article
What Lies Beyond Digital for Insurance Operations?
https://www.bcg.com/publications/202...e-of-insurance
Another 1.4 million shares crossed at 72.5 yesterday so looks like the accumulator is back. Watching for another leg up with a break of 73.5.
Depends on the wording on the insurance contract.
Typically, replacement of contents style policies cover 'unforeseen events.' Is heavy rain really fitting into this category?
More business interruption style policies also rely on an underlying event that triggers it (eg EQ closes CBD).
I note in less than 2 months (since 26/11/2020), 5 directors and the new CEO have bought on market.
AGM on Tuesday next week..
Umm sorry I misread the notice. 23 Feb not Jan. I got far too excited about an insurance company AGM.
Tower to acquire ANZ legacy portfolio
22/2/2021, 2:07 pmTRANSACTMarket Information
NZX Limited
Level 1, NZX Centre
11 Cable Street
Wellington
New Zealand
Company Announcements Office
ASX Limited
Exchange Centre
Level 6, 20 Bridge Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
22 February 2021
Tower to acquire ANZ legacy portfolio
Kiwi insurer Tower (NZX/ASX: TWR) announced it has agreed to pay $14m in cash to ANZ to acquire and assume ANZ’s rights and obligations relating to servicing a portfolio of insurance underwritten by Tower. This transaction enables this portfolio to be brought into the Tower Direct business.
Tower provided insurance for ANZ and National Bank customers between 1990 and 2009 and continues to cover over 23,000 people under those policies. On completion of the acquisition these customers will be insured directly by Tower under a Tower branded policy. These customers have always been insured by Tower under these policies and that is not changing as a result of this acquisition. No steps need to be taken by existing customers.
Blair Turnbull, Tower CEO, says the deal delivers positive value for Tower and its shareholders by ending all future ANZ commission payments on the portfolio. Premiums from the ANZ portfolio contributed $40m in FY20 to Tower’s Gross Written Premium. The agreement also enables the migration of these customers to Tower’s leading cloud-based, digital platform which delivers operational efficiencies for the company and offers customers a more expansive and modern product range.
“We have a tried and true method to migrate customers from legacy platforms and products to our new technology, which improves the customer experience and delivers scale efficiencies. We adopted this successful acquisition strategy with Youi NZ, Club Marine and now ANZ,” said Turnbull.
Turnbull says that the acquisition means these customers will now have access to Tower’s leading digital and data technology that provides simple and rewarding experiences for customers. We will be deepening our relationships with these customers, with increased engagement and access to modern and innovative new products, as well as enabling them to go online to understand and manage all aspects of their insurance.
“We have a clear strategy to grow our business and this agreement continues to solidify our position in the market as a strong and innovative local insurer that is here for our customers,” said Turnbull.
“Our Partnership with ANZ has been a positive one over many years. As we look forward, we are excited to welcome these customers to Tower direct product range and to continue providing a leading customer experience,” said Turnbull.
No regulatory approvals are required to proceed under the agreement and the acquisition is unconditional, with completion expected to take place on 12 March 2021.
ENDS
Boys & Girls - was that your dividend that just disappeared out the door ? ;)
TWR holders what remains of them appear to be a patient crew, perhaps too much so
when it comes to swallowing a trail of excuses on why no Divvie .. not even a smell
of one for long periods .. ;)
$40m gwp, that has an average trailing commission of say, (guessing) 10%, at that would be $4m / year not heading out the door. Not to mention the new ability to cross sell / maintain in house. So long term this is a good move by Tower. Sure, agreed that this means the FY21 dividend looking less likely.
This will be the 4th insurance book (Tower legacy, Youi, Marine) migrated into their new platform in a short timeframe which does infer some longer term decent growth, and scalability in the company based on the IT capex all being completed.
Antipodean that may be about right but it ignores the clear risk to the book.
ANZ now has every incentive to get their customers to switch to their current insurance partners, Vero. So expect the $40m to decrease over time.
Worth it, if it lets them turn off their old IT systems. Otherwise, maybe a forced purchase by Tower?
Trademe insurance is already underwritten by Tower :)
Yes ANZ have full incentive to move that book now, assuming there isn't anything in the purchase agreement that either forbids it, restricts it, or changes the price depending on the book volume at March 12. In any case if these policies have been around since 2009, I can't imagine a flood of them will move in the next two and a half weeks.
This does point to no dividends being paid within at least the next half year. However that money isn't 'lost', it will just appear in the capitalisation of the stock over time due to increased future profits. The board and management have recently purchased materially large positions in the stock. They believe using profits for acquisitions is the best use of funding rather than paying out dividends (which will be taxed) at this stage.
I agree with them. They have finished heavy investment into their digital platform which will create large efficiencies. They are now in a position to scale the business with little extra admin cost. I still see the end game of Bain Capital being a sale of the business. The larger they can grow their loan books the more attractive they become to large overseas players who want a meaningful position in the NZ and the Pacific.
TWR did a capital raise in September 2019 in large part because the RBNZ wouldn't count the then disputed EQC receivable for capital adequacy purposes. With that position now resolved (albeit for an amount less than sought), TWR will have excess capital that it may have difficulty returning to shareholders tax effectively due to an absence of any imputation credits. I therefore favour investing the excess capital to grow the business.
The ability of insurers to pay dividends continues to be under RBNZ surveillance due to COVID concerns on liquidity. Assuming TWR has a more than adequate capital position, small unimputed dividends hopefully won't be far off.
Apparently not..... https://www.nzx.com/announcements/367996
"Tower’s consistent growth supports return to dividends"