Middlesea Insurance held its annual general meeting at the Hilton Conference Centre on Friday.

The meeting approved a dividend distribution of a final dividend of 7 cents per share amounting to Lm875,000, an increase of 17 per cent over last year. To mark Middlesea’s 25th anniversary, the meeting also approved the payment of a special commemorative dividend of 3cents per share, amounting to Lm375,000.

Today, 25 years on, Middlesea has grown into a group of general, long-term insurance and insurance management companies with emphasis on primary insurance markets locally and overseas. The operations of all group companies contributed positively to the overall result, and it was appropriate that on the 25th anniversary an operating profit before tax of Lm6.51m was registered for the year ended 31 December 2005 – an increase of 79 per cent over 2004.

The following members were appointed to the Board of Directors until the 26th annual general meeting, namely R.E.D. Chalmers, T. Depasquale, Dr J.C. Grech, A. Jimenez Herradon, Dr M. Sparberg, D. Sugranyes Bickel, F. Xerri de Caro and J.F.X. Zahra.

As there were as many nominations as there were vacancies, the following nominees were automatically appointed directors, namely G. Bonnici, Dr E. Caruana Demajo, A. Corsi, G. Debono Grech, V. Galea Salomone, and L. Spiteri.

Immediately after the meeting, the Board of Directors appointed M.C. Grech as chairman and R.E.D. Chalmers as deputy chairman.