Shareholders of Cornerstone Insurance Plc have applauded the board and management for the company’s performance and divided pay-out for the year ended 31 December 2021.
The shareholders who spoke at its 30th Annual General Meeting held in Lagos said not many competitors were able to perform as much as Cornerstone during the year under review given the challenges in the business environment.
Mathew Akinlade, president, Nobel Shareholders Association said the company has done exceedingly well given the operating environment and economic situation at this time.
Other shareholders including Gafaru Erufolami, Timothy Adesiyan among others called on the board to continue to strengthen its strategies to be able to sustain the growth.
Segun Adebanji, chairman of the board during the meeting announced a dividend payout of N908.319 million, translating to 50 kobo per share.
He said the company’s resolve is to earnestly work hard to be able to pay dividend consistently in the coming years.
Adebanji said “The Board and Management of our company will however be resilient and steadfast in our resolve to deliver positive results for our shareholders”.
On the company’s performance, he said Cornerstone Insurance Plc during the year under review recorded a Gross Premium Income of N20.9 billion, a 19 percent increase from N17.5 billion in December 2020, which he said was a result of its superior value proposition and increased patronage from all its institutional and retail customers.
This is as Profit Before Tax rose to N3.7 billion, as against N2.19 billion the previous year, indicating a 69 percent increase, while Profit After Tax was N3.5 billion, an increase of 60 percent from N2.19 billion in 2020.
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Speaking on the results, Ganiyu Musa, the group managing director (GMD), stated that the Company’s performance in 2021 was as a result of strict adherence to a well laid out long term growth strategy based on sound business principles and the core values of Integrity, Empathy, Professionalism, Innovation and Team Spirit.
According to him, “We are indeed grateful to all our esteemed customers (Institutional, Retail and the Broking community) for their continuous patronage and for entrusting us with all their risk management needs. These, coupled with the ingenuity and resolve of our staff and our commitment to exceptional service delivery have made us one of the leaders in Nigeria’s insurance industry”.
“As a team, the management and staff have continued to build a sustainable and profitable business on the platform of transparency, corporate governance, sound risk management practice and value creation for our customers. All these have culminated in the Company achieving a landmark result in its history, by earning Gross Premium Income in excess of N20 billion”.
Further details of the account shows a 381 percent growth in underwriting profit to N5.2 billion against N1.08 billion, which according to the company was driven by focus on cost optimization and conservative approach to underwriting.
Total Assets in the year under review was N49.3 billion, an increase of 13 percent from N43.8 billion in 2020, and has been driven largely by strong growth in turnover which dovetailed into growth in insurance funds.
