By Dipo Olowookere
An insurance company operating in Nigeria, Axa Mansard Plc, has announced a net profit of N1.4 billion in the first six months of 2019, lower than the N1.5 billion it reported in the first six months of 2018.
Also, the profit before tax declared by the company went down by 15.8 percent to N1.6 billion in H1 2019 from N1.9 billion in H1 2018, amidst 28.12 percent rise in the finance costs to N191.8 million from N149.7 million.
Details of the financial statements released by the board of the insurance firm indicated that despite the decline in the bottom line, the gross written premium rose to N29.4 billion from N23.5 billion, while the gross premium income jumped to N19.7 billion from N16.1 billion, with the re-insurance expenses closing at N7.6 billion in H1 2019 versus N6.6 billion in H1 2018, leaving the net premium income at N12.1 billion as at June 30, 2019 against N9.6 billion as at June 30, 2018.
The sum of N1.1 billion was recorded for fee and commission on insurance contracts in the period under review compared with N941.9 million in the same time of last year, while the net underwriting income ended at N13.2 billion in HY 2019 in contrast to N10.5 billion in HY 2018, with the net underwriting expenses at N10.8 billion against N8.3 billion.
As at the close of business on June 30, 2019, the total underwriting profit was N2.4 billion versus N2.3 billion as at the close of transactions on June 30, 2018.
In the period under consideration, the total investment income was N2.8 billion compared with N3.2 billion, indicating a 12.5 percent year-on-year decline.
Axa Mansard further disclosed in the results that expenses for marketing and administration took away N975.5 million from the its purse, higher than N880.5 million in the previous period.
Adedapo Adesanya