By NGOZI Onyeakusi

 

 

Royal Exchange Plc, Nigeria’s premier insurance and financial services group, has announced that its Profit After Tax (PAT) increased by 19 percent from N171.14 million achieved in H1’16 to N203.3 million recorded in H1’17
The company also announced an increase in its Gross Written Premium (GWP) in the sum of N9.37 billion in the period under consideration, which represents an increase of 11 percent over the H1’16, which stood at N8.43 billion.
The H1’17 Gross Premium Income witnessed a moderate growth of 6.3 percent over the H1’16figures, at N6.86 billion for H1’17, compared to the N6.46 billion generated in the corresponding period 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. Alhaji 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 Alhaji 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, Auwalu 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.
In recognition of the efforts being undertaken to reposition the company, Royal Exchange Plc recently won two awards from BusinessToday Online as the 2016 Insurance Company of the Year while the Group Managing Director, Alhaji Auwalu Muktari was also adjudged the 2016 Insurance Man of the Year.