LASACO Assurance Plc said it recorded significant growth across top and bottom lines in its business transactions for the year ended December 31,2018.
The audited financial statement of the company, approved by the insurance sector regulator, the National Insurance Commission, showed that the firm’s gross written Premium (GWP) for the period rose by 35 per cent, from N6.67 billion in 2017, to N9.01 billion by December 2018.
When the Gross Written Premium was disaggregated, the result showed that LASACO Assurance generated N5.64 billion premium from non-life, while N3.38 billion came from life assurance services. Net underwriting income of N5.22 billion in 2018 represented 31 percent increase over N3.99 billion earned in corresponding period in 2017.
Announcing the result, Managing Director of the company, Segun Balogun, said during the period, the underwriting profit of the company more than doubled as it rose by 64 per cent to N2.06 billion last year December as against N1.25 billion realised in 2017.
Accordingly, 67 per cent of the underwriting profit, or N1.39 billion was realised from the non-life services while 33 percent or N667.54 million came through life assurance services.
Investment income during the period was down by 14 per cent to N753.68 million in 2018 compared with N874.67 million realised as at the end of 2017.
Profit before tax, stood at N958.20 million in 2018 witnessing 12 percent improvement when compared with N854.27 million made in corresponding period in 2017.
Balogun, said following this performance, the board proposed payment of 5 kobo dividend per share to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2018.
According the company’s financial statement, the company had approximately N10.2 billion invested in fixed income and N967million in equity instruments.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has lifted the suspension placed on the company for late submission of its result.
The capital market regulator suspended eleven listed companies, including LASACO, for non-compliance with Rule 3.1, rules for filing of accounts and treatment of default filing, rule book of the exchange (Issuers’ Rules) (Default Filing Rules),
According to the NSE, LASACO Assurance has now filed its Audited Financial Statement for the year ended 31 December 2018 to the Exchange.
This was revealed by Head, Listings Regulation Department of the Commission, Godstime Iwenekhai.
He said: “The suspension of trading in the Issuer’s securities shall be lifted upon submission of the relevant accounts provided the exchange is satisfied that the accounts comply with all applicable rules of the exchange. The exchange shall thereafter also announce through the medium by which the public and the SEC were initially notified of the suspension”, he noted.
Speaking on this, the Managing Director/CEO, LASACO Assurance Plc, Segun Balogun, said that the company opted for full adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 9 as against the deferral option that most of the insurance companies in Nigeria opted for. This led to extra disclosure on the company’s 2018 Financials.
He informed that trading on the company’s shares will resume with price exiting the stagnant status. “Dealing members can now invest into LASACO Assurance Plc”, he said.
