AIICO Insurance Records N50bn Premium

AIICO Insurance Plc has released its gross written premium of N50.1billion for the period ended December 31, 2019.

This represented a 33 per cent growth from a gross premium of N37.7 billion gross premium recorded by the company in the same period in 2018.

According to the company, the performance was driven by growth across all lines of business within the Group.

The firm MD/CEO, Babatunde Fajemirokun, said profit before tax (PBT) of the company rose to N6.2 billion, an increment of 78 per cent, compared to the N3.5 billon achieved in 2018.

Also, profit after tax (PAT) grew by 88 per cent to N5.9 billion, compared to N3.2 billion in 2018. Basic earnings per share (EPS) increased by 89 percent from 44k in 2018 to 83k in 2019.

Speaking further, Fajemirokun said: “Over the course of 2019, we undertook a thorough review of our businesses with a clear aspiration to attain market leadership through profitable growth. “Stemming from the progress made so far, it is my belief that we are on course and have the right strategy in place to deliver even more sterling performance in the years ahead.

“In accordance with our commitment to fulfilment of our obligations to our clients, gross claims grew by six per cent from N29.0 billion in 2018, to N30.6 billion in 2019.

“From this amount, about 75 per cent was for benefits and claims payment in our Life business with the remaining 25 percent incurred in the Non-Life business.”

He said the group, however, experienced an underwriting loss of N6.34 billion in 2019, driven by the increase in life technical reserves (change in life funds) in the Life business.

According to him, the Non-Life business achieved N2.4 billion underwriting profit in 2019.

This increase in life technical reserves was based on significant growth in new business, impact of changes in yields on federal government securities and assumption changes such as mortality, withdrawal experiences, policy expenses and increased inflation. Hence, the underwriting loss of N6.3 billion is a notional loss (non-cash) given the format of insurance accounts used for a composite player in Nigeria.