By David Akinmola
Policyholders suffered insured risks on policies they purchased from Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc had received N2.08 billion claims in 2023 financial year.
The amount paid represented 87.1 per cent of paid claims budget for the year, while claims paid rose by N41.5 per cent from N1.47 billion it settled in 2022 financial year.
Likewise, net claims expenses increased to N1.45 billion in 2023 growing by 41.4 per cent from N1.21 billion in 2022, which 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.
Speaking to shareholders at its 37th yearly general meeting in Lagos, on the chairman, Kyari Abba Bukar, commended the shareholders for keeping faith with the insurer over the years, seeking continuation of such support to take the underwriter to the top of its business in the industry.
He therefore, confirmed that the Gross Premium Written of the insurer rose to N8.16 billion in 2023 from N5.77 billion it was in 2022, he noted that, this represents growth of N2.39 billion in value and 41.3 in percentage term while the full year budget of N6.7 billion was surpassed by 121.8 per cent.
Increased business proportion on renewals, favourable impact of premium rates on Fire and Motor businesses, he said, were the major contributors to the increase in income even as the insurance revenue performance moved in the same direction as the Gross Premium Written increased to N7.71 billion in 2023 by 44.8 per cent from N5.33 billion in 2022.
The chairman stressed that the unfavourable impact of inflation and fuel price instability led to a surge in Operating Expenses of N2.33 billion in 2023 by an increase of 39.4 per cent from N1.67 billion in 2022, this, he added, represents 111 per cent of the full year budget of N2.11 billion.
The underwriting profit of the year, according to him, was N1.83 billion which translates to 87.1 per cent of N2.1 billion for the year, while the underwriting profit increased by 44.8 per cent from N1.56 billion in year 2022.
The Profit After Tax (PAT) of N2.5 billion achieved in 2023, he said, 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 N398 million profit recorded in 2022.
He announced, on behalf of the insurer, a dividend of five kobo per share of 50 kobo ordinary share to the shareholders.
In the meantime, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Ogbodu expected the company to have been capitalised up to N50 billion in the next five years, stating that, the company already had its recapitalisation plans in place to ensure it meets up with whatever capital benchmark the insurance industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) comes up with in future.
Earlier, a distinguished shareholder, Nona Awo, had advised the management of the company to commence the process of recapitalisation now before the regulator announce it, even as he urged them to pay special attention to its investment, to ensure that returns on investment is good, hence, will trickle down to shareholders.
