Sales of pre-need firms down 15% in Jan-Nov

Sales of pre-need companies dropped by 15 percent to P30.02 billion in the first 11 months of 2003, from P35.3 billion the previous level, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported over the weekend.

Likewise, the number of plans sold declined by 12.5 percent to 487,684 last year compared with 557,642 units a year earlier.

The decline was attributed to the current difficult environment, the unstable foreign-exchange rates, and the uncertainties in the political front.

Pension plans accounted for bulk of the total sales with 255,950 units sold or 17.3 percent lower than the year ago’s 309,659 units. The value of these plans amounted to P15.87 billion, down by 24.8 percent from the year earlier figure of P21.11 billion.

Sales value of education plans likewise declined by seven percent to P11.41 billion from P12.25 billion a year ago. This was due to the 28 percent drop in the number of education plans sold during the period under review from 180,037 to 129,837.

The number of life plans sold, on the other hand, grew 50 percent to 101,897 from 67,946. The contract price of these plans amounted to P2.75 billion, 41.75 percent higher than the P1.94 billion registered in the comparable period.

Industry leader College Assurance Plans Inc. once again dominated the sales of education plans with a total of 34,947 units sold to the public valued at P2.08 billion. In terms of sales, however, Philam Plans led the list with sales of P2.17 billion or a total of 16,269 units.

Among issuers of life plans, St. Peter Life Plans led the pack with P395.78 million in sales (22,855 units) followed by Prudentialife Plans which sold 21,072 units to the public valued at P699 million.

Philam Plans, on the other hand, topped the list of pension plan issuers with sales of P4.07 billion, accounting for 27,889 units sold to the public. Prudentialife came in next with sales of P1.84 billion or a total of 17,982 units sold.

In terms of the number of plans sold, however, Mercantile Care Plans sold the most with a total of 43,454 units disposed of. The value of the plans sold amounted to P265.02 million.

For its initial collection last year, the pre-need industry reported a decline of 9.06 percent to P3.31 billion from P3.64 billion the same period in 2002.

Pre-need companies are firms issuing plans to provide payment or performance of future services or monetary considerations at the time of actual need. Pre-need plans include life, education and pension plans.