Financial institutions in the country especially, insurance companies have not been posting good returns from their stocks on the equities space due to Nigeria’s challenging macro-economic environment.
Although insurance firms seem not to be performing badly judging by their unaudited financial statements for the first nine months ended 30th September, 2019, six companies recorded ₦64 billion Gross Written Premium (GWP) and ₦ billion Profit After Tax (PAT), an improvement from the same period last year.
These six companies that sent that results included, AIICO Insurance Plc, LASACO Assurance Plc, Linkage Assurance Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI) Plc, Prestige Assurance Plc and Universal Insurance Plc.
Analysis of the results posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) website, reveals that AIICO Insurance Plc, earned a Gross Premium Income of ₦35.56 billion for the period under review representing a 37 per cent increase as against N25.93 recorded for the same period in 2018.
AIICO’s GWP rose 34 per cent from N27.67 billion in 2018 to N37.05 billion in 2019, while its net premium income increased by 40 per cent to N31.08 billion for the period under review in 2019 from N22.16 billion in 2018.
The company’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) increased to N5.13 billion for the third quarter of 2019 indicating 138 per cent increase from N2.15 billion recorded for the same period in 2018. This is even as the Profit After Tax (PAT) of the firm soared by 158 per cent to N4.69 billion in 2019 from N1.82 billion in 2018.
LASACO’s Assurance Plc, in its net underwriting income, posted a 30 per cent growth from N3.7 billion achieved in 2018 to N4.8 billion recorded in 2019, while the GWP grew by 5 per cent from N7.79 billion in 2018 to N8.20 billion in 2019.
The firm’s PAT increased by 20 per cent to N652 million in 2019 from N542 million for the same period in 2018 and the PBT stood at N840 million in 2019 from N747 million in 2018 representing a 12 per cent increase. Its total assets equally increased by 13 per cent to N19.25 billion in 2019 from N17.05 billion in 2018.
However, LASACO’s investment income declined by 4 per cent to N551 million in 2019 from N573 million in 2018.
Linkage Assurance Plc, recorded a significant growth in Profit After Tax (PAT) by 601.5 per cent, growing from N84.38 million in 2018 to N591.91 million in 2019.
Likewise, the underwriting firm’s Profit Before Tax (PBT) grew by N387.15 million in 2018 to N866.86 million for the period under review in 2019.
The general business insurer also reported remarkable growth in top line, recording a 17.89 per cent increase year-on-year in gross written premium, moving from N4.54 billion in 2018 to N5.35 billion in 2019 and its premium income rose by 25 per cent to N4.6 billion from N3.67 billion in 2018.
Also, the company also exhibited high level risk management, as its underwriting profit moved from a negative position of N689,586 million in 2018 to N295,117 million in 2019. The investment income of the company decreased by 11 per cent to N1.85 billion from N2.07 billion in 2018.
Investors in the company remain upbeat, as earnings per share stood at 7.4 kobo as against 1.1kobo in 2018, showing a 572.75 per cent growth while the total assets of the company increased from N23.146 billion in 2018 to N24.630 billion for the period.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, recorded a 46 percent rise in PAT to N519.6 million in 2019 from N355.9 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2018.
The company also recorded a 23.7 per cent increase in gross premium written to N6.7 billion in 2019 from N5.4 billion in 2018 while the total assets rose to N11.2 billion from N10.8 billion recorded in 2018.
Prestige Assurance Plc, posted 11 per cent increase in PAT to N450,671 million in 2019 from N403,376 in 2018 while the PBT rose by 7 per cent from N560,322 million in 2018 to N600,894 million in 2019.
The firm’s GWP grew by 33.2 per cent from N3.798 billion in the previous year to N5.059 billion in 2019 while its net premium income increased by 43.8 per cent to N2.438 billion in 2019 from N1.695 billion in 2018 but, its investment income dipped by 18.75 per cent from N295,496 million in 2018 to N240,086 million in 2019 for the period under review.
Universal Insurance Plc, PAT stood at N90,712 million while PBT was N100,235 million for the period under review. The Company gross premium grew by 91 percent from N808.698 million in 2018 to N1.541billion at the end of Q3 2019.
Also, the firm’s net premium income witnessed a leap to N1.095 billion in 2019 as against N620.198 million reported in same period of 2018, representing 77percent increase in the period under review.
The underwriting profit rose by 71 per cent to N626.506 million in the third quarter of 2019 while investment income also rose 38 per cent to N106.668 in Q3 2019 compared to N77.423 million in the third quarter of 2018.
The underwriter’s gross claims paid out dropped to N211 million in 2019 from N255.424 million, representing a 17 per cent drop.
Commenting on the results, the Managing Director/CEO of Linkage Assurance Plc, Daniel Braie, said key measurement fundamentals of the company remain strong despite the tough operating environment.
Braie attributed the growth to hard work and commitment of the board and management in the quest to grow and make the company a competitive brand in the market, adding that the significant growth in bottom line was largely due to cost optimization GWP efforts, quality underwriting and increased consumer confidence.
According to him, the company is certain to sustain GWP GWP GWP the performance all through the year, promising that shareholders will have increased value from their investment at the close of business in 2019.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of CHI, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, said that the unwavering support of the board and management of the company was pivotal to the success recorded.
He said, “The strong performance reflects the board and management’s commitment towards rewarding our shareholders with good returns. There is no gainsaying that consistent improvement is also being driven by the increased confidence of our customers.”
On plans to increase the minimum paid-up capital of the company to N10 billion in line with the new requirements of the National Insurance Commission, Efekoha said arrangements have been finalised to get the approval of shareholders for the raising of additional N4.5 billion during an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting (EGM).
DPR Discovers Illegal Petroleum Refineries In Kano
He expressed confidence that the company will successfully beef up its capital base further, ahead of the June 2020 deadline by NAICOM, in view of positive investor confidence displayed during the earlier proactive efforts by the board to raise N500 million through a rights issue and an additional N734 million through a private placement, both of which were fully subscribed even before the recent recapitalisation mandate by NAICOM.
For its part, Mr Ben Ujoatuonu, the Managing Director of Universal Insurance Plc, noted that the reduction in claims payout was achieved due to the company’s ability to assess risks accepted effectively and efficiently.
He added that the company holds dear claims settlement obligations and with delight attends to issues of genuine claims with dispatch.
“It is noteworthy to mention that Universal Insurance is one of the 44 underwriting firms given the ‘No Objection’ status by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to carry out its recapitalisation plans”, Ujoatuonu said.
THE SUN, NIGERIA