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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
Cornerstone earns N124 million profit, plans periodic recapitalisation
Stories by
Bethel Obioma
Insurance Correspondent, Lagos
Cornerstone
Insurance Plc, at the end of the 2003 financial year, recorded an
increase of 50 per cent profit after tax from N83 million in 2002 to N124
million in 2003.
The firm’s gross premium income
grew by 22 per cent in the year under review from N1 billion in 2002 in
2002 to N1.22 billion in 2003.
Speaking during the company’s
12th annual general meeting,
held in Lagos recently, its Chairman, Mr. Ambrose Fesse, said the firm had
maintained a steady growth and a leading position in the industry since
its inception.
Fesse said Cornerstone’s net
retained premium increased by 51 per cent from N649 million in 2002 to
N978 million last year. He attributed the increase to the removal of
compulsory legal concession to Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, among
other opportunities that came with the introduction of Insurance Act 2003.
He said the shareholders’ fund
rose to N713 million from N639 million, while total assets increased from
N1.2 billion in 2002 to N1.34 billion in 2003, representing a growth of
20 per cent.
Besides having exceeded the
N350 million statutory paid-up capital for composite insurance companies,
Cornerstone Insurance Plc has resolved to embark on periodic recapitalisation
efforts that may take the company’s paid-up capital to N1billion within
the next few years and
position it for future regulatory increment and greater market share.
Currently, the firm’s paid-up share capital stands at N378 million, while
its ongoing rights issue will raise it to N600 million before the end of
the current financial year. “This will put the company ahead of future
regulatory requirement for companies to recapitalise and increase the
itss retention capacity, and support its business expansion/diversification
programmes,” Fesse said.
Cornerstone’s Managing
Director, Mr. Jacob Erhabor, added that the company’s hopes to remain one
of the most capitalised players in the industry and uphold its widely
acknowledged competitive edge in the insurance market.
Fesse said that Cornerstone’s
board had since approved the establishment of two branches in the Niger
Delta to kick-start the company’s branch network expansion programme.
He explained that the move
would facilitate the firm’s visibility and penetration in the oil-rich
region and ultimately improve the its fortunes.
He said Cornerstone would
continue to give priority to staff training and development and retain a
competitive workforce to ensure excellent service delivery. He added that
the company was fine-tuning plans to launch new products that would fill
the gaps already identified in the insurance market.
“There is no doubt that our
company has a great future, going by its antecedents. It has maintained a
steady growth right from inception
and we shall not relent in sustaining this standard,” he added.
The AGM approved a dividend of
12.5 kobo per share, amounting to N52.5 million.
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