By Sola Alabadan
Anchor Insurance Company Limited grew its Profit Before Tax from N336.55 million in 2020 to N1.02 billion in 2021, representing a whopping 203.13% increase, while its Profit After Tax rose from N436.49 million in 2020 to N867.55 million in 2021, showing about 99% growth.
The company’s Chairman, Dr. Elijah Akpan, who addressed shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Lagos recently, said the insurance firm grew its gross written premium from N6.8 billion in 2020 to N10.4 billion in 2021, representing an increase of about 54 percent.
Akpan said: “2021 was generally acknowledged as a year of recovery for businesses, having suffered gross drawbacks following the lockdowns that greeted the global health pandemic in 2020. Despite the challenges businesses faced while trying to regain their full feet, we came out of the year with a gross written premium of N10.4bn as against the N6.8bn achieved in 2020. This indicates a 54.43% performance over the results of 2020.”
“The Company’s Total Assets grew from N13.54bn in 2020 to N15.49bn in 2021, indicating a 14.33% rise. Similarly, the Shareholders’ Funds had a 13.76% positive change from N5.67bn in 2020 to N6.45bn at the end of 2021.”
Also speaking, Managing Director/CEO of the company, Mr. Ebose Augustine said that regular claims payment has always set the company apart from others.
He said: “We held on to our avowed regular claims payment policy which has continued to set us apart in the competition. We paid a total sum of N997.42m as claims to genuine affected policyholders as against the N1.29bn response in 2020. This shows a 22.62% positive drop in claims paid. This positive claims management was a direct result of the improvement the Claims Team has continued to make. The Team’s thorough investigations and assessments have severally saved the Company from incurring fraudulent claims.
“We would have surpassed the above income generated if premiums for most businesses (mainly in the public and financial sectors) we had concluded were paid.”
On dividend payment, Augustine noted that in keeping with the Company’s avowed policy to always make its shareholders smile, it paid a dividend of 4.5kobo per share to the owners of the business for the 2021 financial year as against the 40k it paid to them in 2020.
“The Board assured the shareholders it would keep the trend increasing proposed figure for dividend as the profit margin continues to gain such yearly momentum.”
On future outlook, Augustine stated: “Though the National Insurance Commission has suspended its ordered industry recapitalization, we will pursue the recapitalization of our dear Anchor Insurance Company to its quickest conclusion, knowing the advantages available for the Company when achieved.
“We will look at creating more people-oriented retail products as further multiple premium generation channels. We value our Management and Staff for their dedication and ownership spirit in the discharge of their duties. They are directly responsible for the good report the Company turns in each year. The Board will work closely with the Management and ensure that appropriate welfare rewards are extended to all deserving hands in the Company’s employ.”
The inauguration of the new executives of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) was recently co-sponsored by Anchor Insurance and two other insurance firms.
