Yemisi Izuora.
Royal Exchange Plc has announced that its Profit After Tax (PAT) increased by 19 percent from N171.14 million achieved in the first half of 2016 to N203.3 million recorded in the first half of 2017.
The company also announced an increase in its Gross Written Premium in the sum of N9.37 billion in the period under consideration, which represents an increase of 11 percent over the same period in 2016, which stood at N8.43 billion.
During the first half of 2017, Gross Premium Income witnessed a moderate growth of 6.3 percent to N6.86 billion from N6.46 in 2016. Net Premium Income for the period amounted to N4.72 billion, representing a marginal growth of 2.5 percent over that of half year 2016, which stood at N4.60 billion.
Total Net Claims paid for the period under review amounted to N1.76 billion, a decrease of 10 percent from half year 2016, which was N1.95 billion. This feat was achieved as a result of stringent underwriting policies implemented throughout the company in the period under review.
While speaking on the results, the Group Managing Director of Royal Exchange Plc. Auwalu Muktari, said “by focusing on the growth objectives set forth at the beginning of the year, which included an increased focus on the retail and corporate markets, amongst others, we have been able to achieve moderate growth and the board and management of the company are definitely optimistic for the second half of the year”.
According to Muktari, “the beginning of the 2017 financial year witnessed difficulties in the Nigerian economy, but as evidenced by our stellar results and those of other firms in the Nigerian Stock Market, there is renewed optimism in the Nigerian economy. Royal Exchange Plc is hopeful that by focusing our efforts on aggressive sales of our various products and services, including strong presence and participation in the retail sales space and the continued optimization of our operating costs, we will be able to surpass our financial targets set for ourselves at the beginning of the year.”
On the state of the insurance industry in Nigeria, Muktari noted that while government is the biggest spender in the Nigerian economy, it is important that the private sector sees the insurance industry as partners in their progress by taking out policies to ensure not only business continuity, but also peace of mind in the event of any business disruption or random event happens.
He also noted that increased awareness on the usefulness and benefits of insurance by the media will help increase insurance penetration and wider patronage of the various insurance products in Nigeria.