From left to right: Company Secretary, Chidima Onmwubere; Chairman, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Segun Adebanji; GMD, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Mr. Ganiyu Musa and Non Executive Director, Steve Iwenjora at the 30th AGM held yesterday.
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR— Shareholders of Cornerstone Insurance Plc, have hailed the board and management of the company for the impressive performance recorded in 2021, even as they approved total dividend of N908mllion paid for 2021 financial year.
The shareholders gave the commendation at the 30th annual general meeting held yesterday at Muson Center, Lagos.
The insurer recommended a total dividend of N908,319million that is, N0.05 only per ordinary share of Fifty kobo each for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Specifically, Chairman, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) Dr. Anthony Omojola, appreciated the firm for the dividend payout at a time most companies are not thinking of shareholders’ welfare.
While President, Nigerian Shareholders’ Solidarity Association (NSSA) Timothy Adesiyan, applauded the firm for an outstanding financial performance amid the economic headwinds.
Chairman, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Segun Adebanji, noted that ” the board and management of our Company will however be resilient and be steadfast in our resolve to deliver positive results for our shareholders.”
Speaking on its performance, the group managing director, Ganiyu Musa noted that fire portfolio generated the majority of claims incurred during the year with N1.24 billion incurred (the only sub-class to surpass the N1 billion mark). The industry is working with the reinsurers and brokers to address the pricing and other underwriting imbalances affecting the Fire class.
“A key highlight of our results is that all general business lines contributed positively to our underwriting Results except for the
Engineering portfolio which saw a N7.3 million loss. This signifies stability in our Company’s core business and is testament to the success of the stricter risk assessment parameters put in place.”
He said that general insurance portfolio grew by 26% from the previous year with all the sub-classes showing an increase except Bond which represents less than 1% of the portfolio.
The Oil, Gas & Aviation sub-class continued to lead with a 35% contribution in 2021 and a growth of 28% from the previous year.
On life business, he said “life underwriting result was significantly higher than the previous year at N2.82 billon compared with N140 million in 2020. We continued to pay close attention to the quality of our underwriting using our carefully designed Risk Acceptance Criteria to filter business opportunities.
Whilst group life premium increased by 9.25% in 2021, the change in the investment climate affected the attractiveness of the annuity market. As a result, we reduced our new annuity sales from N1.15billion in 2020 to N383 million in 2021 in order to protect the overall profitability of the Life portfolio.
Sphere is an ongoing conversation at the industry level to improve the regulatory
playing field for annuity versus programmed withdrawal to restore the competitiveness of the annuity product.
On plans for the future he said “we seek to consolidate our position within the industry and strive for even greater market share, we will continue to harness our dynamic capabilities such as our creative and resourceful human capital, our commitment to providing an excellent customer service experience and our robust technology platform to their full potential in order to exceed our shareholders’ expectations”.
