Sunmonu
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR–Coronation Insurance Plc a major player in Nigeria’s insurance sector said the group paid net claims of N3.21billion to its policyholders at the end of the financial year ended 31st December, 2020.
The Chairman of the company Mr Mutiu Sunmonu, disclosed during it’s 62nd virtual Annual General Meeting held in Lagos that
the figure rose from N3.05billion in 2019.
According to him the group’s profit before tax went up from N23.6million in 2019 to N1.15billion in 2020.
Also profit after tax of the insurer was not left out as it grew from N214.32million to a growth of N1.2billion in the review year of 2020.
The group’s total underwriting profit also grew from N2.92billion in 2019 to N3.29billion in the year under review while total underwriting expenses came down from N6.55billion in 2019 to N6.18billion in 2020.
The group’s gross premium written rose to N16.19billion from N15.2billion achieved in 2019, while net premium income declined to N7.36billion in the financial year under review from N7.81billion recorded in 2019.
He added that the group’s total assets appreciated from N30.75billion in 2019 financial year to N39.72billion in 2020.
Reactting to the accounts, Mr. Sunny Nwose commended the company for it’s outstanding performance in 2020.
According to him despite the difficulty experienced during the covid-19 the company was able to present a better financial indices.
However he frowned at non payment of dividend by the company, adding that things are tough in the country and the minority shareholders needs to be put into consideration when crucial issue such as dividend is being discussed
Also, former president of Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Boniface
Okezie urged the company to leverage on its partnership with Access Bank to grow it’s business.
According to him the company should be able to take advantage of the big customer size of the bank to sell insurance.
He also commended them for meeting with the recapitalisation deadline despite it was cancelled by the Regulator.
Responding the chairman assured shareholders that the ongoing transformation in the company since the last few years has already paved way for further growth and turning over the benefits to the shareholders.
“One thing that is very very common to all the shareholders who raised questions is about dividend pay, protection of the minority shareholders. I think the two things that are also salient is making sure that at the end of the day, existing shareholders derived maximum mileage for their investment in one form or the other.
“And if you look at what we are doing at Coronation Insurance in the two years and you observed how we have moved up in terms of ranking, am sure that will give all our shareholders confidence that the trajectory is right and end goal is very clear in our mind . We must make sure that there is maximum value to our shareholders. I can assure you that we have our eyes on the board on that. I truly believe that we will not let you down”, he said.
Also the managing director at Coronation Insurance, Mr Olamide Olajolo, assured that the firm’s partnership with Access Bank was poised to enhance growth of the firm.
“Regarding our relationship with Access Bank, our partnership with Access Bank is very strong and is going. We are leveraging on its customers and developed digital channels to access all their customers. Am very confident that in the coming months we will start seeing results of these efforts.”
