Profits at Laya Healthcare soar to €36.55m ahead of €650m sale to Axa

Gordon Deegan

Pre-tax profits at health insurance provider, Laya Healthcare last year soared by 36 per cent to €36.55 million.

New accounts show that pre-tax profits increased at the Cork-based Laya Healthcare Ltd after revenues rose by €14.47 million to €104.04 million.

The pre-tax profits of €36.55 million follow pre-tax profits of €28.85m in 2021.

The consistent high level of profits at the insurance provider persuaded French insurance giant, AXA Insurance to pay out €650 million to AIG subsidiary, Corebridge Financial for Laya Healthcare in August of the year.

In May, Peter Zaffino, chairman and chief executive of AIG, said in an earnings call that the group was considering a sale of Laya following a review of its health insurance offering. The company first acquired Laya in January 2015.

According to the directors' report for Laya Healthcare, there were a number of factors contributing to another year of profitable results, including the firm’s membership base here rising to 676,000 members, which represents an overall market share of 27.6 per cent.

The directors state that throughout the pandemic, the health insurance market has remained resilient with the numbers insured in the country increasing during this period to 2.42 million, or 47.3 per cent of the population.

The Laya directors state that the Health and Wellness services also saw growth during the year, through the expansion of products and offerings to both corporate and individual members.

Numbers employed by Laya last year increased from 603 to 617 as operations and sales staff totalled 488 and support teams employed 129.