The board of AIICO Insurance Plc, on Wednesday presented its audited financials for the year ended December 31, 2018, offering a dividend of six kobo, as against previous year’s five kobo per share, despite the 136% rise in profit after tax, which was boosted by the robust underwriting profit of N3.213bn, compared to prior year’s N4.022bn loss.
Gross premium written for the period rose 17% from N32.097bn to N37.665bn, boosted by the N26.616bn contribution from its life business, up from N21.678bn in the preceding full year, while non-life recorded N10.385bn, as against N8.729bn. Reinsurance expenses rose to N5.181bn from N3.79bn; following which net premium income inched 14% up to N31.865bn from N27.95bn.
Insurance contracts contributed N1.161bn, up from N746.084m, just as pension contract pooled N1.762bn, up from N1.61bn, bringing net underwriting income to N34.789bn, which was principally driven by the N25.995bn from life segment, while N6.426bn came from general business. In prior year’s N30.306bn.
Gross claims expenses increased to N29.065bn from N23.273bn, just as claims expenses recovered from reinsurers rose to N5.196bn, as against prior year’s N2.499bn; which resulted in net claims expenses of N23.869bn, an increase by N3.094bn or 15% from N20.774bn. Other expense increased by 24% to N13.983bn from N11.237bn; just as total benefits, claims and other expenses increased by N5.84bn or 18% from N32.012bn to N37.853bn.
Besides the robust underwriting profit, investment income stood at N9.051bn, up from N8.632bn; net realized gains dropped from N5.338bn to N2.366bn; personnel expenses increased from N2.944bn to N3.571bn; other operating expenses from N4.936bn to N5.624bn; among others.
Profit before tax rose by N455.382m or 15% to N3.495bn from N3.04bn; while a drop in income tax from N1.712bn to N319.687m pushed profit after tax up by N1.868bn or 146% from N1.283bn in 2017 to N3.151bn. A breakdown of the source of the net profit shows that N3.241bn was derived from the life business, up from N879.965m in 2017, just as the general business segment suffered a N637.491m loss, compared to its N561.289m profit. The net profit translated to Earnings Per Share of 44 kobo, up from 18 kobo, from which the directors are offering six kobo dividend.