Insurer FBD said on Friday that it now expects its net Covid-19 business interruption payouts to pubs to come to €44 million, some 34 per cent below its previous estimate, after it managed to pass on more of the costs to its reinsurers.
The company has paid €30 million in interim payments to pubs, and said that “despite many delays due to the complexity of the issues, the path is now clearer to finalising payments”. The company, led by chief executive Tomás Ó Midheach, has proposed a dividend of €1 per share for shareholders, amounting to €35.3 million in total. It matched a dividend that had been planned two years ago, but ended up being abandoned due to uncertainty over the Covid-19 business interruption cases.