By Bisi Bamishe
Thursday, August 24, 2023, has been set as the date to hold the 28th Annual General Meeting of one of Nigeria’s prolific and fast-growing Insurance Company, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, having been granted approvals for its 2022 Annual Report and Accounts by the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, and the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, respectively. The Meeting this year, would be held at the Bay Lounge Hall, Block 12A, located on 10, Admiralty Road, Lekki, Phase 1, Lagos.
The Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations for the Organization, Mr. Segun Bankole shared this information recently in Lagos while briefing newsmen in preparation for the 28th Annual General Meeting of the Underwriting Firm.
The company, no doubt showed great resilience amidst the various challenges that characterized the operating environment in year 2022. He said, there is every reason to be appreciative to all the shareholders and customers of the Organization who had shown great level of commitment and patronage to the Company since inception 28 years ago.
Amidst the challenges of 2022, the company ended the financial year under review with a great sense of optimism that the days ahead will continue to look brighter and better.
In spite of the challenging business environment in 2022, the underwriting Firm recorded a total Gross Premium Written of N15.2billion in the year over the N12.7billion recorded in 2021, representing a 20% increase. The Underwriting Profit grew by 10% from N2.4billion in year 2021 to N2.7billion in 2022. In the same vein, the company achieved Profit Before Tax of N962million as against N885million recorded in year 2021 representing an increase of 9%.
The size and quality of the company’s balance sheet improved as total assets of the company increased from N16.4billion to N17.4billion representing 6% growth while shareholders Fund increased by 8.6% from N9.6billion in 2021 to N10.4billion in 2022. The Company continues to affirm its commitment and capacity to honour all genuine claims as and when due. The Company in 2022 settled claims totaling N3.2billion to various policyholders spread across the country.
Regardless of the level of uncertainties and dynamics in the business and macro-economic environment, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc remains strong to continuously maintain and build on its market share while remaining one of the prime choices for insurers in the Nigerian insurance landscape.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Olaotan Soyinka has attributed the performance to the commitment shown by every member of staff who he described as the Drivers of the organization coupled with the fact, that the company’s Management is also dedicated to ensuring that the company takes its place of pride in the industry. In his words, “The tenacity of the Sovereign Trust team in achieving aggressive revenue generation is unwavering and we will continue to pursue it with renewed vigour.”
According to him, “it is a statement of fact that we want to be a leading brand in the Insurance Industry providing top-notch and personalised services to all our teeming customers spread across the company with the support of our technology infrastructure.” Our 2022 performance was not fortuitous, we worked towards it and today, we can confidently say that we will continue to better our performance as much as we can while placing serious premium on corporate governance, ethics and ensuring superior investment returns in the years ahead.
