A veteran, debt-free general insurer with a dependable cash dividend and a fortress balance sheet — but one whose yearly profit has quietly drifted lower over the past five years.

Green Delta Insurance PLC sells general insurance — the kind that protects against everyday risks like fire, accidents, marine and cargo losses, motor and property damage. It has been listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange since 1989, which makes it one of the market's true veteran names, and it sits in the top DSE trading category (A).

It is a sizeable business. There are about 10 crore shares in issue, paid-up capital is 100.2 crore taka, and it has built up reserves and retained profit of 606.5 crore taka — several times its capital. It owes the bank nothing (zero loans). It also runs as a small group: alongside insurance it owns subsidiaries, and the news in this pack shows the board decided to buy a 40% stake in an asset-management firm (Green Delta Dragon Asset Management).

Ownership is broad but well-anchored: the sponsors and directors hold 30.58%, institutions 22.97%, foreign investors 4.6%, and the general public 41.85%, with no government stake. That meaningful sponsor holding means the founding family's own money is invested right alongside yours.

An insurer collects premiums up front, promises to pay claims later, and in the meantime invests the money it is holding. So its profit comes from two places: underwriting (premiums it takes in, minus the claims and running costs it pays out) and investment income (the returns it earns on its large pool of cash and investments).

The pack shows an interesting pattern. The premium/underwriting revenue line has actually been shrinking — from about 54.7 crore taka in 2021 to about 27.7 crore taka in 2024 — yet its operating profit stayed much larger, roughly 98 to 120 crore taka a year across 2021–2024. When operating profit is many times bigger than the underwriting revenue line, it is a strong hint that investment returns, not just premiums, carry a big share of the earnings.

Because it is a general (non-life) insurer, most of its policies are short and renew yearly, so the premium base has to be won again each year. The recent decision to buy into an asset-management company is an attempt to add a fee-earning business alongside the core insurance work.

It has never had a loss-making year in this record. Yearly net profit ran 68.4 crore taka (2020), 84.5 crore taka (2021, the peak), 73.1 crore taka (2022), 61.2 crore taka (2023), 54.0 crore taka (2024) and 54.5 crore taka (2025). Profit for each share followed the same path down from the peak: 7.34, 8.43, 7.30, 6.11, 5.39 and 5.44 taka.

Add it up and the direction is clearly a slow slide, not growth. Over 2020–2025 net profit is down about 20%, and profit for each share is down about 26% — the per-share figure fell a bit more because the share count grew after a 7.5% bonus (stock) dividend in 2020. Encouragingly, the fall seems to have flattened in the last year, with per-share profit steady at 5.39 taka in 2024 and 5.44 taka in 2025.

So the picture is a genuinely profitable company whose earnings have been drifting down and are now roughly flat. A recent quarterly update in the pack (early 2026) showed profit dipping again, which the company blamed on higher insurance claims and losses at its subsidiaries — a reminder that the softness is worth keeping an eye on.

On safety this is one of the stronger stories you will see. It owes the bank nothing — total loans are zero — so it is funded entirely by shareholders' money. Shareholders' equity was about 705 crore taka in 2024 (it moved in a 690–733 crore taka band across 2021–2024), and the reserves and retained profit of 606.5 crore taka completely dwarf the 100.2 crore taka of paid-up capital — a thick cushion built up over decades.

It also keeps a large cash pile: roughly 151 to 166 crore taka across 2021–2024, and about 153.6 crore taka in 2024. For an insurer that ready cash matters, because claims can spike without warning and must be paid quickly.

The one soft spot is that the cash it generates from operations swings around a lot. Operating cash flow was negative (about -17 crore taka) in 2021, healthy (about 59 to 60 crore taka) in 2022 and 2023, then thin again (about 11.9 crore taka) in 2024. Lumpy cash flow is fairly normal for insurers because of the timing of claims and premiums, but it is the one number that does not look quite as rock-solid as the rest of the balance sheet.

This is one of the company's clearest strengths. It has paid a cash dividend in every year of this record — 24.5% of face value in 2020, 30% in 2021, 25% in 2022, 25% in 2023, 25% in 2024 and 27% in 2025 (the shares have a face value of 10 taka). On top of that, in 2020 it also handed out a 7.5% bonus (stock) dividend. That is an unbroken, dependable payout record.

In plain taka, the latest 27% cash dividend works out to 2.7 taka per share — a small step up from the 2.5 taka it paid in each of the three prior years.

The payout also looks safe. Last year the company earned about 5.44 taka of profit for each share and paid out 2.7 taka of it — a little under half — keeping the rest inside the business. Paying out only about half of profit gives the dividend real room to survive a weaker year, which fits the company's sturdy, no-debt style. (The dividend yield — the payout measured as a percentage of today's price — moves with the price, so it is shown live beside this report rather than stated here.)

Green Delta's real advantages are about strength and staying power. It is one of the oldest insurers on the exchange (listed 1989), with a large capital-and-reserves base (reserves of 606.5 crore taka), zero borrowing, and a big cash cushion. The most recent credit rating in this pack places it at the top grade ("AAA" long-term from the local rating agency), which signals that lenders and regulators see it as very financially strong. A 30.58% sponsor holding keeps the founders' interests firmly aligned with outside shareholders.

Where it is more ordinary is growth. Its profit for each share has slipped over five years and only flattened out lately, while several insurance peers in this pack have posted much stronger recent earnings growth — United Insurance and Asia Pacific General Insurance, for example, both reported sharp year-on-year jumps in earnings, whereas Green Delta's was roughly flat. On the profit it squeezes from its very large pool of shareholder money, it looks steady rather than a standout performer.

So the honest way to think of Green Delta's edge is reputation, scale and financial safety — a well-known, deeply-capitalised brand that is built to endure — rather than a fast-compounding earnings machine.

• Fortress balance sheet. No bank debt at all, reserves of 606.5 crore taka against just 100.2 crore taka of capital, and a large cash pile — it is built to weather a bad claims year.
• Dependable dividend. A cash dividend in every year of the record, most recently 27% (2.7 taka per share), funded by only about half of yearly profit — so the income keeps coming and has room to spare.
• Top credit standing. The latest rating in the pack is the highest grade ("AAA" long-term), reflecting strong financial health and brand trust.
• Veteran, well-owned franchise. On the market since 1989 with a 30.58% sponsor stake — a long track record and founders whose money sits alongside yours.
• Room to expand. The decision to buy 40% of an asset-management firm (per the pack's news) could add a new fee-earning income stream over time.

• Earnings drifting lower. Net profit is down about 20% and profit for each share about 26% over 2020–2025, with only a flat 2025 — the worry here is growth, not just price.
• Shrinking underwriting revenue. The premium/underwriting revenue line fell from about 54.7 crore taka (2021) to about 27.7 crore taka (2024), leaving profit leaning more on investment income, which is less predictable.
• Lumpy cash flow. Operating cash flow swung from negative in 2021 to about 59–60 crore taka in 2022–2023, then down to about 11.9 crore taka in 2024 — it does not throw off cash as steadily as the balance sheet suggests.
• Subsidiary and claims drag. A recent quarterly update in the pack blamed a profit dip on higher insurance claims and losses at subsidiaries — a reminder that the group's other arms can pull results down.
• Behind faster-growing peers. Several insurance peers in this pack grew earnings much faster recently, so on growth alone Green Delta can look flat by comparison.

Green Delta is a "sleep-at-night" kind of holding: a big, old, debt-free insurer with deep reserves, a top credit rating and a dividend it has paid without fail. If your goal is steady income and safety more than excitement, it fits that goal well.

The honest caveat is growth. Profit for each share has slipped over five years and only steadied last year, the underwriting revenue line has shrunk, and cash flow is uneven — so this is not a fast-rising earnings story. It offers stability, not acceleration, and its recent results have leaned more on investment income than on a growing insurance book.

Whether today's price makes it a good entry is a separate question that this durable write-up does not try to answer — the live value estimate beside this report handles the price side, and it updates as the market moves. Match the company to your own goal: for income and financial safety, yes; for rapid growth, less so.