By ABDUL-KHALIQ OLALEKAN
In spite of the harsh operating environment, Royal Exchange Plc said it was able to generate a gross written premium of N10.7 billion from its business activities for the financial year ended December 31, 2015.
This, it said, represents an increase of 14 per cent over the figure of 2014, which stood at N9.4 billion.
Net premium income for the period amounted to N8.4 billion, with a modest growth of 9 per cent over that of the previous year (2014), which stood at N7.8Billion. Total assets also increased to N26.525 billion, up by two percent from the preceding year.
Total claims paid for the period under review amounted to N3.0 billion, an increase of 26 per cent from 2014, which was N2.4 billion.
Reacting to this development, the Group Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Auwalu Muktari, stated that despite the very harsh operating environment in the year under review, the group was able to grow its top-line figures by participating in large-ticket financial transactions, as well as playing in the retail insurance market, which would be a key growth driver in the years ahead.
According to him, “Royal Exchange Plc will in the years to come, continue to be an aggressive player in the retail market in Nigeria and will be looking at different strategies to increase its product offering and visibility in the marketplace, while not losing track of the corporate market, where the returns and margins, are dwindling, yearly.”
Muktari noted that the bottom-line results of the group did not turn out as expected, due to increase in operational costs, branch expansion, acquisition of new business solutions to improve its internal business processes, as well as thin margins on investments.
To stem this tide, he said the company has implemented various cost optimization strategies and measures which would guarantee profitability in both the current financial year and the years ahead.
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