Economy
Zenith General Insurance Grows Profit 10% in 2019
By Adedapo Adesanya
Zenith General Insurance Limited recorded a 10 percent increase in its profit after tax, according to its full-year financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019.
In the year under consideration, the insurer grew its net profit to N3.06 billion from N2.8 billion it recorded in the previous year.
A review of the results showed that the underwriting firm achieved a year-on-year 16 percent growth in the profit before tax, which rose to N3.7 billion from N3.2 billion.
According to the financial position of the company, it also maintained a robust balance sheet as it closed the year with total assets of N40.1 billion and a shareholders’ fund of N25.9 billion.
Also, Zenith General Insurance gross premium grew by 17 percent year-on-year to N16.1 billion compared to N13.7 billion published during the same period last year, while there was a 46 percent growth in underwriting profit from N2.8 billion to N4.06 billion.
The company noted that despite lower yields on most investment classes during the year under review, its investment income showed an increase of two percent year-on-year, up from N3.55 billion in 2018, to N3.63 billion.
Speaking on the result, the Chief Executive Officer, Zenith General Insurance, Mr Kehinde Borisade, said: “We are re-affirming our mission statement that Zenith General Insurance Limited exists to ensure peace of mind and also create value to people in a world of uncertainties.
“This is evident in our strong financial performance showing improvement across the board through increased premium income, underwriting profits and investment income despite the economic headwinds witnessed in various sectors of the economy.
“We also ensured prompt settlement of claims with total claims payment of N3.8 billion for the year and an average settlement turnaround time of three days.”
“Our company has continued to maintain a very strong and healthy financial position with a growth of six per cent year-on-year on total assets, and a four per cent increase in shareholders’ funds,” he said further.
Looking ahead, Mr Borisade said the company will continue to strive to be the best in the insurance industry, adding that it was able to maintain the strongest solvency position, closing the year with a solvency ratio of 726 percent.
Zenith General Insurance Limited is also one of the first Insurance companies to have met the recapitalisation requirements of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) by recapitalising its share capital from N3 billion to N10 billion
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange returned to positive territory, as it was pregnant by 2.1 per cent in the 22nd trading week of 2023.
This pregnancy gave rise to the increase in the market capitalisation of the exchange by N20.35 billion in the four-day trading week to N1.022 trillion from the N1.001 trillion it finished in Week 21.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) added 15.09 points to wrap the week at 739.21 points compared with 724.12 points recorded a week earlier.
The growth was supported by the market breadth index, which produced seven price gainers and one single price loser in the week under review.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc jumped by 7.1 per cent to end the week at N75.00 per unit, in contrast to the previous week’s N70.00 per unit, Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc gained 6.1 per cent to close at N245.00 per share versus the previous week’s N231.00 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) recorded an 8.6 per cent growth to end at N15.20 per share versus N14.00 per share.
Further, 11 Plc rose by 3.8 per cent to N119.40 per unit from N115.00 per unit, NASD Plc improved by 9.9 per cent to N15.50 per share from N14.10 per share, Acorn Petroleum Plc grew by 7.1 per cent to 15 Kobo from 14 Kobo, while Nipco Plc added 2.9 per cent to trade at N72.00 per unit compared with the earlier week’s N70.00 per unit.
However, the share price of UBN Property Plc depreciated by 2.1 per cent to close at 92 Kobo per unit, in contrast to the preceding week’s 94 Kobo per unit.
In the week under review, there was a 1760.9 per cent increase in the trading value to N482.4 million from N25.9 million, the trading volume rose by 1,317.5 per cent to 10.4 million units from 730,759 units, and the number of deals declined by 6.94 per cent to 67 deals from 72 deals.
UBN Property Plc was the most traded stock by volume with 5.00 million units, FrieslandCampina sold 2.38 million units, Acorn Petroleum Plc recorded 1.13 million units, NDEP Plc traded 820,000 units and VFD Group Plc transacted 380,000 units.
In terms of value, NDEP Plc led with N202 million, FrieslandCampina posted N167 million, VFD Group Plc traded N87 million, 11 Plc reported 10 million, and Nipco Plc traded N5.05 million.
In the year so far, unlisted securities investors have bought and sold 1.70 billion units of stocks valued at N5.53 billion in 1,327 deals, according to data obtained by Business Post.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The threats posed by climate change on the globe, especially food security, have necessitated the need for sustainable farming practices. To commemorate 2023 World Milk Day, some farmers in Kano State were gathered by Outspan Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Olam food ingredients (ofi), to educate them on remaining in business for a long time without affecting the environment.
Under this year’s theme of Sustainable Dairy: Good for Planet, Good for You, the day was an opportunity to engage and celebrate the local dairy community as part of Outspan’s broader efforts to promote sustainable dairy farming practices, wider milk consumption, and education for farmers’ children.
“Sustainability is critical to ofi’s value proposition to offer good ingredients for consumers, farmers, and the world.
“Maintaining proper care of cattle herds, natural resources, and land is critical to addressing climate change. This is why we organized a lecture on sustainable dairy farming practices for dairy farmers,” the Regional Manager for ofi’s dairy business in Nigeria, Mr Manish Khede, said.
He added that the business also prioritizes the education of the farmers’ children as this will help to provide them with a buffer for the future. He pointed to the educational materials comprising textbooks and school bags being donated to the children as the business’ way of aiding the children’s learning.
Regarding milk consumption, Mr Khede said, “According to Healthline, a global health information platform, milk is a good source of vital nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D and protein.
“We believe that promoting access to and consumption of fresh and safe milk in Kano State can contribute to healthier communities and productivity too.”
On his part, the Vice President of ofi’s dairy business in Nigeria, Mr Praveen Paulsamy, said, “We are committed to the Federal Government’s economic development agenda. Hence, we’re looking to continue our investment in developing the local dairy value chain to remove the hurdles impeding growth along the chain and the dairy farming communities.”
Business Post reports that the event also had representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), members of the Kano Dairy Cooperative, local chiefs, and key officials from state and federal ministries of agriculture in Kwanar Dawakin Kudu LGA of Kano State.
While addressing the participants, a representative of the Branch Controller of the CBN in Kano, Mr Lawan Ahmed, said, “The milk industry provides valuable nutrients that support healthy physiological growth among the populace. The players in the industry deserve to be celebrated.”
The Director of Livestock and Poultry Service in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kano, Mr Garzali Muhammed, stated that, “Outspan has been instrumental in enhancing the productivity of the members of Kano Dairy Cooperative. The various backward integration investments embarked upon by the business have positively impacted the productivity rate and income levels of the dairy farming community in the state.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of Kano Dairy Cooperative, Mr Usman Abdullahi, thanked Outspan for “raising the level of milk production in Nigeria.”
It was learned that Outspan donated educational materials such as school bags and textbooks to the dairy farmers’ children, encouraged wider milk consumption, and improved public health.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Efforts would be made to create more wealth for investors and Nigerians and stimulate economic growth, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) promised.
At a meeting over the weekend, the Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said this would be achieved by deepening and diversifying the capital market.
He said when capital markets are developed, the entire engine of saving and investing and allocating resources to the projects with the highest expected returns is made easy.
“And if you do that effectively, you will see that you will create more jobs in the economy, create more revenue for the government and make life easier for all investors.
“When that happens, you have a lot of interested parties that want to put in their money to help the market develop,” he said.
The DG said in a bid to develop the market; the agency saw the need to have a forum where it could interface with issuers in a bid to discourage delisting.
“When issuers delist, they do because of certain issues. So, we decided to engage Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) and set up the Securities Issuers Forum. This was done to sit and discuss the issues and find solutions to them,” the SEC chief stated.
Mr Yuguda said that SEC was working hard to look at the various issues and ensure that the problem of delisting by companies is brought under check.
The SEC DG disclosed that the commission has put in place various other incentives to encourage companies to list, as listing provides enormous benefits to companies and investors.
“Listing enhances higher investor protection. This collaboration with NECA has been very fruitful, and that has given confidence to many of the players. We have started getting interest from the big players,” he noted.
He stated that some strategic listings have recently happened in the market, and the organisation was encouraging the diversification of the equity market by listing companies within power generation, telecommunications and foods.
He said, “We have had some strategic listings like the IPO of MTN, BUA Foods etc. and asset class creation or new products like derivatives have further helped diversify the listings from the huge leaning on the financial sector (banks and insurance) several years back.
“The problem with this market is when the big players do not list. So we started getting interest from the big players like MTN. And they decided to come in a very imaginative way. They decided to make the offer electronically so that people with telephones could subscribe without going through an intermediary,” Mr Yuguda said, assuring that the commission would continue collaborating with various market stakeholders to support impactful innovation in the capital market.
“For example, our keen support of the innovation by the Issuing House to the MTN IPO in 2022, Chapel Hill Advisory, further promoted the benefits of electronic-IPO (e-IPO), which made it possible for over 100,000 new accounts to be opened on the CSCS, most of which belong to youths and women- key subsets of our demography which is considered critical to sustainable growth.
“Information Technology and FinTech is fast becoming Nigeria’s new oil, and we continue to support the participation of fintechs in helping the capital market attract the youth and to help ease onboarding and ‘democratise’ access to wealth management services,” he added.
