Yemisi Izuora
Shareholders of Guinea Insurance Plc were unanimous in their consent and adoption of the continuous growth and development initiatives of its Board during the 2016/59th Annual General Meeting held recently in Kano. Godson Ugochukwu, Chairman, Board of Directors in a statement, reaffirmed the commitment and resolve of the Board to grow the company through strategic deployment of its distinctive competencies to gain competitive edge in the marketplace.
In his address, Godson underlined as modest, the remarkable operational and financial successes the Board and Management of the company were able to achieve in less than a year despite the harsh realities of economic headwinds experienced within the same period.
“As pledged in year 2015, we positioned ourselves for the future and initiated rigorous actions to get Guinea Insurance out of the woods and guided to a path of profitability. Therefore, the company was able to grow its Gross Written Premium by 4.18% from N870million in 2015 to N907million achieved in 2016. Shareholders’ Fund in 2016 was 2.897billion and N2.899billion in 2015 representing a marginal drop of 0.08%. Profit Before Tax margin grew by 194.64% from N46.9million in 2015 to N138million in 2016. Profit After Tax grew by 134.87% from N7.2million loss experienced in 2015 to N2.5millon profit recorded in 2016. Our company successfully overcame the challenge of solvency margin during the year as its solvency margin stood at N3,014,791,000 (Three Billion, Fourteen Million, Seven Hundred & Ninety-One Thousand Naira) in 2016 as against year 2015, when the solvency margin was N2,981,596,000 (Two Billion, Nine Hundred Eighty-One Million, Five Hundred & Ninety-Six Thousand Naira).
Given what could be described as a sweeping pass as regards the remarkable feat of courage and will displayed by its Board, shareholders were overtly hopeful that the trend would endure and the company will continue to consolidate its footing in the industry; with no ifs, ands or buts, Godson pledged to continually focus on building capacity, reposition the brand, build a tribe of loyal customers who will become the company’s brand ambassadors and ultimately transform the company to a world class enterprise.
Meanwhile, the Ag. Managing Director, Mrs. Isioma Omoshie-Okokuku in her report, unequivocally charged stakeholders of the company to look on the bright side of new things to come as the Board was raring to go with its continuous growth and development initiatives. In her word: “Today, I can stand before you and make bold that the newly constituted Board and present-day Management team of our company, have come together as a formidable force to pull out all the stops on our path to success. We believe we are competing to win, our strength lies in our passion for high standards and determination to become a world class enterprise with the scope and economies of scale necessary to serve the financial and risk management requirements of our numerous customers; many of whom trade not just in domestic markets, but regionally and throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.” As we move into the future, we will definitely be at the vanguard of positive changes in our company and in the Nigerian insurance industry”.