Lion Insurance netted 51.8 million Br in profit over the last fiscal year, recording a 21pc rise from the preceding year. Though the firm registered remarkable growth, it was slower than the 44pc rate scored the previous year.

Its earnings per 25 Br share (EPS), the profit divided by the total number of shares, slightly decreased to 9.62 Br from 9.99 Br.

The profit after tax of Lion increased considerably, for which the management should be appreciated, according to Abdulmenan Mohemmed, a financial statement analyst with two decades of experience.

"The reduction in EPS is very modest," said Abdulmenan, who attributed the decline to a significant increase in paid-up capital, which grew by 26pc to 148.5 million Br.

Abraham Gebreamlak, the board chairperson of Lion, characterised the last fiscal year as a year of adversity.

But, despite all odds, the firm managed impressive achievements in various strategic activities that lay a foundation in sustaining Lion's versatility, according to Abraham.

"Despite the fierce price-based battle within the industry, erratic social unrest in the country, the unforeseen outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the subsequent market challenges that the insurance industry faced, Lion managed to accomplish remarkable achievements," Abraham remarked.

Yonas Alemayehu, a founding shareholder of Lion, also says that even though he had an initial expectation that the firm could amass a higher amount of profit, it managed to achieve a decent performance despite the multiple challenges the country faced on different fronts.

"It's surprising," he told Fortune. "And it's good that the firm didn't incur a loss despite all the challenges in the industry and the economy as well."

However, there is a lot the firm can do to improve its performance, according to Yonas, who says that the insurance market is yet untapped.

Yonas, who also works with the insurance company for coverage of his own firms, joined Lion  with a quarter of a million Birr worth of shares. However, his number of shares has since grown four-fold and surpassed one million Birr.

"I reinvested my dividends in new shares," said Yonas, who only received one dividend payment in cash over his 13-year stay with the firm. "We took the dividend that year since the insurance company couldn't raise capital."

Coming to the core insurance business, Lion's gross written premiums marginally grew to 389 million Br, a six percent rise from the previous year. Motor insurance was the largest share with 63pc followed by the liability and the pecuniary classes of business.

Out of the total gross written premium, 79 million Br was ceded to reinsurers. The premium retention rate ticked down slightly to 79.9pc from 80pc. The premium retention rate is still higher than the industry average of 77pc recorded in 2019.