Business
Cornerstone Insurance Records 37% Growth
Cornerstone Insurance Plc in gross premium has said that increased businesses and expanded market share in 2008, helped its gross premium to grow by 37 per cent to about N4 billion.
The company’s audited report and account for the year ended December 31, 2008 showed that the insurance company’s gross premium which measures the volume of businesses by a risk firm within a period, rose from N2.78 billion in 2008.
Its board of directors decided to make a clean break and reposition the company for sustainable growth and thus made full provisions for the outstanding premiums or bad debts over the years as well as the depreciation, which has characterised investments on the stock exchange in recent years.
The decision impacted negatively on the bottom-line, leaving the company with a net loss of N419.5 million in 2008.
However, the first quarter report showed that CornerStone Insurance was off the red with group pre and post tax profits as N356.64 million and N616.1 million in first quarter 2009. group premium stood at N1.3 billion in the first three months of this year.
The company’s acting managing director, Dominic Ichaba said the write-down and provisions were parts of a comprehensive ethical revolution aimed at repositioning CornerStone Insurance as Nigeria’s leading insurance-based financial services group.
According to him, the company has retooled and restructured its businesses and management with a view to ensure it offers attractive values and remains nimble to adapt to current changes.