J. S. Johnson & Company Limited

What it is

The principal business of J. S.

Johnson and Company Limited is operating as insurance agents and brokers — meaning it arranges coverage for clients through global markets rather than carrying all the risk itself. Its subsidiary, the Insurance Company of The Bahamas (ICB), established in 1997, is the underwriting arm: JSJ is its principal agent, so the group earns both brokerage commissions and underwriting profit.

The company is the oldest and largest general insurance agency in The Bahamas. It operates four branch offices across New Providence, Abaco and Grand Bahama, plus a subsidiary, J.

S. Johnson & Company (Turks & Caicos) Limited, in Providenciales.

Today JSJ works through international network partners including Aon, Island Heritage and Lloyd’s of London — relationships that give it access to the major global insurance markets and a wide range of coverages for personal and commercial needs.

Who owns it

In 1986, influenced largely by the vision of Charles Fernie, the board voted to offer shares to the public — the first time many Bahamians could own a piece of the company — and JSJ was eventually listed as a tradeable security on BISX. The company is therefore publicly held, with a broad Bahamian shareholder base.

Not published: the controlling-shareholder breakdown and free-float percentage are not disclosed in the BISX listing page, the BCSD annual-report filings, or any press source found. The Bahamas Securities Commission Act requires listed companies to file annual reports and disclose material shareholdings, but the specific ownership split is not visible in the open filings retrieved.

The board, listed on the BISX company page, includes C. Bruce Fernie, Marvin Bethell, Terry Wilcox, Alister I.

McKellar, William Mills, Kevin Moree, Sharon Brown, Betty Roberts, Thomas F. Hackett and Hamish Todd.

Who runs it

Managing Director Alister McKellar, FCII — a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute — leads the company’s day-to-day operations. Chairman Marvin Bethell chairs the board.

A separate CFO is not identified in any public filing or press source found.

The company employs more than 150 staff, many with professional qualifications from insurance institutions in the United Kingdom and Canada — giving JSJ the largest number of professionally qualified general-insurance staff in The Bahamas.

The money, in plain words

Net income for FY2021 was BSD $9.04m / USD $9.04m — up from BSD $6.6m in 2020 and BSD $6.2m in 2019, a pattern of steady, if modest, growth. Earnings per share rose from BSD $0.66 to BSD $0.86, and net revenue from contracts with customers — the commissions and fees JSJ earns for arranging insurance — climbed 13%, from BSD $18.5m to BSD $20.8m.

Shareholders received BSD $0.56 per share in dividends in FY2021 — more than BSD $4m in total — with the share price holding at BSD $15.50. That dividend represented roughly 65% of the BSD $0.86 earnings per share (our calculation) — a high payout that signals a mature, cash-generating business run for income rather than rapid expansion.

Not published: full audited revenue and margin figures for FY2022, FY2023 and FY2024 are contained in annual reports posted on BISX (bisxbahamas.com) and BCSD (bcsd.bs), but all PDF links return HTTP 403 Forbidden errors to automated retrieval, and the BISX listing page itself returns HTTP 404. Until those documents are accessible, precise recent-year margins and return on equity cannot be verified and are therefore omitted per this profile’s standards.

What it is doing now

For the nine months to September 30, 2025, JSJ reported a BSD $1.7m increase in consolidated net income — the most recent public data point available. Earnings per share for the nine-month period jumped 20%, from BSD $0.92 to BSD $1.10.

The Agency & Brokers segment led performance, with net revenue from contracts with customers climbing from BSD $19m to BSD $22m. The Bahamas was spared the catastrophic impact of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa in 2025, though JSJ still faced isolated weather-related events including a September microburst — a reminder that hurricane exposure is the single largest variable in this business’s results.

The company’s 2024 Annual Report was posted to BISX on May 8, 2025.

What to watch

• Hurricane season, every year: After Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and subsequent storms, several multinational insurers withdrew from the region — which is precisely why JSJ built ICB. A major storm hitting New Providence or Abaco remains the biggest single risk to annual profit.
• Annual report transparency: The 2024 Annual Report is filed but its PDF is not publicly accessible through automated means. Until BISX and BCSD resolve server access, investors must request the document directly from the company or broker.
• Ownership disclosure: The controlling-shareholder structure is not disclosed in any open source. Potential investors should request the company’s share registry disclosure before trading.
• Managing Director succession: Alister McKellar, FCII, is both the public face and the key principal. Any leadership change would be material given the company’s size and relationship-driven business model.
• Regional expansion: The Turks & Caicos subsidiary remains the only non-Bahamian operation. Whether JSJ grows that footprint — or stays deliberately domestic — is the strategic question worth tracking.

This is news, not investment advice.