Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has set May 27, 2021, as a date to hold the 26th annual general meeting where the company unveils the great resilience amidst the various challenges that characterised the operating environment in the year 2020 in which it recorded GWP of N11.12bn as against N10.3bn for 2019.
A statement by the chief spokesperson of the organisation, Mr. Segun Bankole, said the company ended the 2020 financial year on a promising note despite the harsh operating environment caused by the novel Coronavirus disease, Covid-19 and the global impact. However, “the urge to continue to maintain an enduring and comprehensive growth strategy still forms the bedrock of the company’s operations.”
The company performance which he noted is consistent, “was able to record gross premium written of N11.12bn in 2020 as against N10.3bn recorded in 2019.” The company’ net premium grew by 10% from N5.9bn to N6.5bn. The net underwriting income grew by 9.7% from N6.9bn to N7.6bn.
Sovereign Trust said this performance resulted in a profit before tax of N796m and a profit after tax of N688m, a 37% increase when compared with the sum of N503m recorded in 2019.
Also on the growth corridor is the balance sheet which improved, registering total assets of N14.8bn up from previous N13.4bn, representing 10.5% growth. Earning per share also improved b 33% from 6 kobo to 8 kobo. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) made a positive mark of 8.1% as against previous 5.6%.The statement further said investment and other income grew by 27% from N468m to N622m.
The managing director/chief executive officer, Mr Olaotan Soyinka sealing the performance said: “by no means, 2020 was a very tough year for many businesses, but the fundamentals of our company are strong, and this buttressed by our capacity to remain profitable despite the harsh economic conditions prevailing in the business environment.”
Soyinka said the company will forge on three dimensions: remain profitable, continue to reengineer its strategy in line with current realities and deflate all resting oars as it continues improvement in performance in the years ahead.