ContinentalReinsurance Plc yesterday announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016, showing improved performance. The reinsurance firm, grew its profit before and after tax by over 40 per cent and declared a dividend of 14 kobo per share. However, the bottom-line was bolstered by a significant growth in foreign exchange gain.
An analysis of the results showed that Continental Reinsurance recorded gross premium written of N22.406 billion, up from N19.738 billion, while net insurancepremium stood at N21.843 billion, compared with N18.195 billion in 2015. Netinsurance benefits and claims were N21.42 billion, up from N16.1 billion in2015.Butunderwriting profit dipped to N414 million, from N2 billion in 2015.
Interest income rose to N1.5 billion, while foreign exchange gain soared from N467 million in 2015 to N4.1 billion in 2015.Impairment costs equally rose from N492 million to N1.788 billion in 2016. In all, the company ended with profit before tax of N4.652 billion, up from N2.916 billion,while profit after tax grew from N2.14 billion to N3.018 billion in 2016.
Following the improve results, the board of the company has recommended for approval and payment to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members on Friday, July 14, 2017 , a dividend of 14 kobo per share. This is higher than the 12 kobo dividend paid in respect of 2015. Meanwhile,the losses recorded at the stock market on Monday were reversed yesterday as the bulls returned, lifting the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)All-Share Index by 0.59 per cent to close at 25,284.56. Similarly, the market capitalisation added N51 billion to close at N8.8 trillion.
The positive performance was influenced by activities of bargain hunters who swooped on bellwether stocks across sectors. The appreciation recorded in the share prices of GTBank, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Cement, UBA, and Zenith Bank were mainly responsible for the gain recorded in the Index. The total value of stocks traded rose by 36.3 per cent from N681.16 million recorded yesterday. The total volume of stocks traded was 227.75 million in 2,543 deals.The three most actively traded stocks were: Diamond Bank (57.64 million), FBNHoldings (32.88mn) and NEM Insurance (25.93 million). The most actively traded sectors were: Financial Services (188.85 million), Conglomerates (19.48million) and, Oil and Gas (12.30 million).
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