Shareholders of Wapic Insurance Plc should expect improved returns in the current year, going by the performance of the company for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. The insurance firm announced gross written premiums of N6.406 billion, up by 13 per cent from N5.673 billion in the corresponding period of 2015.
Net underwriting income improved by 12 per cent to N3.676 billion, from N3.268 billion, while total underwriting expenses rose by 56 per cent to N1.953 billion to N3.050 billion.
Net investment and other income soared by 121 per cent from N1.488 billion to N3.282 billion, while profit before tax jumped by 1,293 per cent from N108 million to N1.508 billion in 2016.
Commenting on the results Managing Director of Wapic Insurance Plc, Yinka Adekoya, said: “Despite the macro-economic headwinds constraining growth in Nigeria and the policy challenges within both Nigeria and Ghana, we recorded N6.4 billion in Q3 2016 group gross premiums, a 13 per cent growth from Q3 2015. Our pre-tax profits also soared by 1293 per cent over the corresponding period of 2015.
We remain focused on deepening our retail distribution, improving operational efficiencies and projecting the Wapic brand in order to achieve our stated goal of regional leadership in the insurance sector.”
Giving more highlights of the company’s performance during the review period, he said the N2.1 billion paid out in claims, a 111 per cent increase in payout experience as against Q3 2015.
He added that the company got AM Best financial strength rating (FSR) of B- and issuer credit rating (ICR) of bb-, while it established a global depositary receipts(GDR) programme with Bank of New York Mellon as depositary bank, offering enhanced access to global capital markets and a measure of currency stability for shareholders.
Meanwhile, the equities market rebounded yesterday with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) gaining 0.12 per cent to close at 27,252.48. Similarly, market capitalisation added N11.1 billion to close at N9.4 trillion.
Performance in the market was mainly driven by bargain hunting in Tier-1 banks – Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (+1.3 per cent) and Zenith Bank Plc (+0.8 per cent). The performance was also bolstered by strong buy sentiment in Okomu Oil Palm Plc following investors’ reactions to its impressive nine months results.
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