Law Union and Rock records 10 per increase in underwriting profit

Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc said its underwriting profit rose by 10.6 percent from N1.03 billion in 2014 to N1.14 billion in 2015 financial period.

The chairman of the company, Adenike Adeniran, disclosed this during its annual general meeting in Lagos.

She also discloses that the firm’s investment income rose from N366 million in 2014 to N489 million in 2015 which reflects its ability to generate both free float and high underwriting margins.

“Despite the economic headwinds, the bottom line improved, the investment income was enhanced, solvency and liquidity were higher than prior year,” she said.

The chairman noted that this was as a result of improvement in the investible fund of the company despite the unstable investment climate and depressed interest rate in 2015.

During the meeting, she said it recorded gross premium of N3.85 billion in the year under review while net premium increased by seven per cent from N2.51bn in 2014 to N2.69bn in 2015.

She explained that the net premium was due to better-earned premium ratio in both brought forward and the period under review.

The chairman also said the profit before tax rose by 27 percent from N259.8 million in 2014 to N328.5 million in 2015 and that this increase was as a result of improvement in earned premium in the reporting year and 34 percent increase in investment income.

She said the profit after tax rose from N125 million in 2014 to N280 million in 2015 financial year and its shareholders’ funds increased from N4.18 billion in 2014 to N4.45 billion in 2015.

Adeniran also announced her resignation from the board and thanked the stakeholders for the opportunity she had to serve the firm.

Jide Orimolade, the managing director said progress was made in 2015 as Law Union received a BBB+(NG) rating on claims paying ability by Global Credit Rating Company, a South African based credit rating bureau, which confirms the company as one of the top insurance companies in the country on the ability to pay claims.

“We are investing in technology to take advantage of the multichannel communications/social media platforms which are in vogue and aim to be more active in meeting evolving customer expectations,” Orimolade said.

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