LAGOS, AUGUST 29, 2018 – Standard Alliance Insurance Plc has witnessed a strong recovery in the immediate past business year, pulling away from a net loss of N1.34 billion to close the year with a pre-tax profit of N65.56 million.
Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Standard Alliance Insurance for the year ended December 31, 2017 released at the weekend at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed considerable growths in the top-line and the bottom-line.
Gross premium rose from N4.38 billion in 2016 to N4.84 billion in 2017. Profit before tax stood at N65.56 million in 2017 compared with pre-tax loss of N1.21 billion in 2016. After taxes, net profit stood at N58.55 million in 2017 as against net loss after tax of N1.34 billion in 2016. With these, earnings per share turned positive at 0.45 kobo in 2017 as against net loss per share of 10.13 kobo in 2016.
Also, first-quarter report for the three-month ended March 31, 2018 showed a positive start in 2018 as gross premium rose from N1.0 billion in first quarter 2017 to N1.25 billion in first quarter 2018. Profit before tax increased from N323.29 million to N477.38 million while profit after tax rose from N270.91 million to N406.40 million. Earnings per share improved from 2.50 kobo to 3.70 kobo.
However, the company witnessed a contraction in the second quarter. Key extracts of the interim report for the half-year ended June 30, 2018 showed that gross premium declined from N3.15 billion in half-year 2017 to N2.35 billion in half-year 2018. Profit before tax dropped from N480.85 million to N337.45 million while profit after tax declined from N379.76 million in half-year 2017 to N284.95 million in half-year 2018. Earnings per share consequently declined from 4.01 kobo to 2.61 kobo.
Standard Alliance Insurance had in 2017 completed its business combination with Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited by issuing 917.86 million ordinary shares to shareholders of Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited to take over all assets and liabilities of the firm.
According to the scheme of merger, five ordinary shares of Standard Alliance Insurance were exchanged for seven ordinary shares of Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited.
The NSE had suspended trading on Standard Alliance Insurance and seven other companies for failing to submit their earnings reports within the required timeline.
Post-listing rules at the NSE require quoted companies to submit their audited earnings reports, not later than 90 calendar days, or three months, after the expiration of the period.The rules also require quoted companies to submit interim report not later than 30 calendar days after the end of the relevant period.
With the submission of the report, the suspension on the stock is expected to be lifted this week.
