By Bisi Bamishe
Customers of SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc have received ₦2.08 billion as claims payment in the 2023 financial year, representing 41.5 per cent increase from N1.47 billion received in 2022.
The underwriting firm also excited shareholders with a remarkable growth as they approved 5 kobo dividends per share of 50k ordinary share.
SUNU Assurances, one of the leading insurance companies in the country posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N2.5 billion outperforming the full year budgeted profit after tax of N355 million.
Besides, the company recorded a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of N8.16 billion in the year under review from N5.77 billion in 2022.
This represents growth of N2.39 billion in value and 41.3 per cent in percentage terms while the full year budget of N6.7 billion was surpassed by 121.8 per cent.
Speaking at the 37th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, the Chairman, Mr. Kyari Abba Bukar, stated that increased business proportion on renewals, favourable impact of premium rates on fire and motor businesses were the major contributors to the increase in revenue.
He said: “We were able to reach another milestone of premium generation, the highest since inception of the company with a Gross Written Premium of N8.16 billion in the year under review from N5.77 billion in 2022.
“Claims paid increased from N1.47 billion in 2022 to N2.08 billion in 2023 by 41.5 per cent which represented 87.1 per cent of the paid claims budget for the year. This is partly due to unfavourable impact of macroeconomic factors as mentioned.
“Net Claims expenses increased to N1.45 billion in 2023 by 41.4 per cent from N1.21 billion in 2022. This represented a budget overrun of N213 million above the N1.24 billion budgeted for the year due to the impact of the implementation of IFRS 17 on Insurance businesses.”
Mr. Kyari Abba Bukar pointed out that the unfavourable impact of inflation and fuel price instability led to a surge in the operating expenses of N2.33 billion in 2023, by an increase of 39.4 per cent from N1.67 billion in 2022. This represents 111 per cent of the full year budget of N2.11 billion.
“The Underwriting profit for the year was N1.83 billion which translates to 87.1 per cent of N2.1 billion budget for the year. However, the Underwriting profit increased by 44.8 per cent from N1.56 billion in year 2022.
“The Profit after tax of N2.5 billion achieved in 2023 outperformed the full year budgeted profit after tax of N355 million due to growing profitable business, favourable claims position and the impact of foreign exchange policy adopted by the Federal Government in June 2023 which added an exchange gain of N2.31 billion to the profit compared to ₦398 million profit recorded in 2022.
“The economic impact of government reforms and other related economic factors as well as the market events on SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc’s business manifested in the growth of premium income largely from businesses denominated in foreign currencies and its resultant sharp rising operating costs,” he said.
On dividend, the Chairman said considering the commendable performance of the Group during the period, the Directors recommended the declaration of 5 kobo dividend per share of 50k ordinary share of the company subject to the approval of shareholders at the AGM.
The Managing Director/CEO, SUNU Assurances, Mr. Samuel Ogbodu, on his part said the company’s 2023 result has been considered very impressive. He also said they are projecting to recapitalise the company above N25 billion or whatever amount our regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NACOM) requires.
“Basically, we are working on having over N50 billion in the next five years. And when a company recapitalize up to this amount, the management is expected to sweat out the capital heavily by two or three times. So, we are looking beyond N25billion value. We are looking at N50billion in the next five years.
“We have had good investments that have yielded positive returns, and this has enabled us to pay our claims. We believe we are in the business to pay genuine claims and this we will continue to do more. Any company that does not pay claims will not survive so our first strategy in penetrating the market is prompt claims payment. We even pay borderline claims just to make our customers happy and retain them”, he noted.
A shareholder and financial analyst, Mr. Nona Awo commended SUNU stating, “I salute the company for the N2.1 billion profit.”
He also said the owners of the Group have built a strong institution.
“The truth is that for every organisation there is opportunity for you to do well and what I was looking forward was consistency in SUNU Assurances’ policy around building institution as against building individuals.
“This is because one of the challenges of companies that haven’t done well in the past is building individuals rather than building institutions and no matter how big an individual is the institution will still be bigger than that individual. In the case of SUNU Assurances, the owners have built a strong institution,” he added.
Another shareholder, Mr. Eke Chibuzor also commended SUNU for been compliant with International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17.pays dividend
