Wapic Insurance surmounts headwinds as premium income spikes

Wapic Insurance Plc has overcome the headwinds caused by lower oil price, severe dollar scarcity and rising inflation as the Nigerian insurer’s premium income spiked.

The aforementioned growth at the top lines (revenue) can be attributed to the firm’s innovative products, focus and market strategy amid a turbulent macroeconomic environment.

For the year ended December 2016, Wapic Insurance’s gross premium written increased by 13 percent to N8.0 billion from N7.01 billion the previous year.

Gross premium income increased by 23.14 percent to N7.58 billion while net premium income was up 8.80 percent to N4.30 billion in the period under review.

Wapic Insurance underwriting profit was up 13 percent to N4.94 billion in December 2016 as against N4.37 billion the previous year.

“It is my pleasure to report that Wapic Insurance Plc. recorded a 13% growth in GWP from N7.1bn in 2015 to N8bn for the year ended December 31, 2016, with a PBT of N1.2bn,” said Yinka Adekoya, Managing Director of the company.

“While the growth of the insurance sector was challenged by liquidity, foreign exchange and other macro and micro economic factors, that stifled much needed premium revenue, the group remained committed to cost, human capital and technology optimization,” said Adekoya.

Through a diverse portfolio of products and a commitment to providing the best customer experience possible, Wapic, with an AM Best Financial Strength rating of “C++” and an Issuer Credit rating of ‘b+”, has significantly enhanced its underwriting capacity placing it among the top five insurance companies in Nigeria by solvency and capital.

The Nigerian insurer’s solvency ratio moved to 266 percent to December 2016 from 250 percent as at December 2015; this means it has enough capital to underwrite more risk.

Wapic Insurance Plc  will hold a teleconference call for investors and analysts on Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 at 2pm Lagos Time (1pm London/ 3pmJohannesburg/ 9am New York) with its senior management, to announce the audited financial results for the period ended December 31st, 2016.

There will be an opportunity at the end of the call for management to take questions from investors and analysts.

Insurance business was slow last year as an economic downturn hindered several policy holders from taking up a policy. New companies were not coming in and hence insurers lost revenue as a result of the uncertainty.

Further analysis of the financial statement of Wapic insurance showed shareholders fund moved by 11 percent to N16.56 billion in December 2016 from N14.96 bilon as at December 2015.

The company’s total assets were up 9 percent to N25.90 billion in December 2016 from 23.69 percent as at December 2015.

We have scaled up our product innovation and channel utilization.

“The Wapic group remains committed to our ambitious growth targets and our ability to deliver excellent shareholder value.” said Adekoya.

 BALA AUGIE