Financial solution provider Hansard Global has said that covid restrictions in Japan have delayed its product roll out in the country.
The firm was granted an investment manager licence in Japan in June 2019 which, at the time, Hansard said was the first step to enable the company to enter the market with an “innovative, next generation savings proposition”.
A year later, Hansard planned to launch a product in the Asian country in the first quarter of 2021. But due to covid setbacks, it has been delayed further.
Graham Sheward, group chief executive at Hansard, said in its 2021 end of financial year results: “Our new investment product has been operationally ready to launch in the Japanese market for some time with its launch currently delayed by virtue of the covid-19 pandemic restrictions in force in Japan, which are outside of our control.
“We are therefore reliant on an improvement in the coronavirus environment in Japan to go to market before the end of 2021, which is our strong intention.
“Our new operating systems are in place to administer our Japanese product and we have moved on to the next stage of the project to migrate our existing products onto the new platform. We expect this phase two project to complete by the end of 2022.”
Results
The insurance firm reported a 10% increase in underlying profit to £6.8m ($9.4m, €8m) for the 2021 financial year, ending 30 June.
This is a rise from £6.2m a year before.
Profit before tax came in at £5.1m (FY 2020: £4.7m), a 9% surge from the previous period, while there was a 9% increase in profit after tax to £4.9m in FY 2021.
As reported previously, new business sales rose 8% to £173m, from £159.8m in FY 2020. Assets under administration totalled £1.22bn at 30 June 2021, up 13% from £1.08bn a year earlier.
Sheward added: “I am pleased to present Hansard’s full year results for the 2021 financial year. Our new business, profit before tax and assets under administration were all up compared to FY 2020 despite the on-going challenges presented by covid-19. I would like to thank all our employees and distribution partners for their hard work and resilience in delivering this result.
“We have continued to make progress with our strategic initiatives although the launch of our proposition in Japan is subject to the lifting of the current covid-related restrictions. Once these are lifted, we believe this initiative can deliver significant growth for the group.
“Given these results and our current financial outlook, we are delighted to be in a position to maintain our dividend in line with last year.”
