Wapic Insurance Gets Shareholders’ Approval to Beef Up Capital Base

Ebere Nwoji

Ahead of National Insurance Commission’s (NAICOM) June 30th, 2020 deadline for firms to comply with its new capital regime, shareholders of Wapic Insurance Plc, have given the company approval to increase its capital base to N15 billion from the current N8.5 billion level.

The company, at its 60th Annual General Meeting held in Lagos recently where the approval was given, said having secured the shareholders’ nod to this effect, it has proposed to shore up its capital through creation of 13 billion additional ordinary shares of 50kobo each, to rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the capital of the company.

“That the directors of the company be and are hereby authorised to do all acts and things as may be necessary to give effect to the above resolution, including without limitation, complying with the directives of any regulatory authority,” it stated.

The shareholders, at the meeting, also commended the outgoing Chairman, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, for manning the affairs of the company positively since 2011.

Speaking on the financial performance of the company, Aig-Imoukhuede, recalled that Wapic grew from just over N4 billion gross premium in 2012 to close at N13.9 billion in 2018.

“During the reporting period, underwriting profit grew by 40 per cent to N2.1 billion as a result of premium growth and improved reinsurance technique. For instance, the negative impact of claims payment in 2018 was dampened by increased reinsurance recoveries.

“We continued to sweat our investments in technology and other assets enabling us to keep expense growth at 11 per cent, which when adjusted for inflation remained flat,” he said.

He, however, pointed out that despite the improved underwriting performance, sharp reversals in the company’s public equities portfolio mirroring the NSE Index’s 2018 negative correction led to significant drop in bottom line performance.

“Our associate company, Coronation Merchant Bank Limited continued to return good earnings, thereby enhancing the value of our private equity portfolio,” adding that the company closed the period with “consolidated net profits of N351 million and that Nigerian business comprising its Life and non-Life franchise accounted for 88 per cent of group revenue.”