Universal Insurance Targets Over N20bn Premium Income in 2024

By LOVETH AZODO, Lagos

…Attributes Growth to NAIPE Partnership

Universal Insurance Plc has announced its projection of a N20billion premium income for the 2024 financial year, despite challenging market conditions.

The ambitious target was disclosed by the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Ben Ujoatuonu, during the 2023/2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE), hosted by Universal Insurance in Lagos.

Ujoatuonu highlighted the company’s positive performance indicators, emphasizing their commitment to maintaining this momentum. He noted that the company’s assets have surged from N11 billion in 2022 to N17 billion in 2023, showcasing significant growth and resilience.

He said: “I was here last year to brief NAIPE on what we have done, our projections and what we intended to do. I am here today to let you know that all that we set out to achieve for the end of the year 2023, by the grace of God, I will say we achieved 98% of them. The branches we intended to open, were opened and I told you that we expected to end the year with a premium income of about N10 billion. However, we ended the year with a premium income of N9.3 billion with profit of over N530 million.

“This year 2024, we started out with very high expectations. We are also looking forward to opening more branches in 2024. In 2024, we are projecting to end the year with a premium income of about N20 billion. It may interest you to know that as at today, we are doing about N9.3 billion in premium income. We are very optimistic that we are going to achieve it before the end of 2024.

“Our asset will also increase from N11 billion to about N17.5 billion and our shareholders fund will increase from about N9 billion to N12 billion. So all the indices for us are showing positive signs and we will continue to sustain it.”
Ujoatuonu stated that Universal partnership with NAIPE has added a lot of value to the company and they value it a great deal.

He said: “For so many years, when we go out into the market, one of the challenges we had was people asking, “Is universal still existing? That was a question we were getting then. But today with your cooperation, the projections and what we’ve been able to do in Universal as a brand, people now want to be part of it. People now want to identify with our company and we are grateful to NAIPE for putting us out to the public.

“Due to NAIPE’s support, we are getting into partnerships with a lot of groups and in various states and we are very hopeful that they will create the level of value we are looking forward to.

“At the end of the day, we are meeting our claims obligations and stakeholders are happy. In April when we had the brokers evening, it was very clear that the NCRIB endorsed universal insurance as a company to deal with in terms of service delivery and claims payment. We are sustaining that level of relationship with brokers. And we are very hopeful that it will continue to add the level of value we expect.”

Ujoatuonu also announced the appointment of three new directors to Universal Insurance’s board, bringing a wealth of diverse experience to the company. “We hope their inclusion will add significant value and expand our business frontier,” he said.

Ujoatuonu expressed optimism about the ongoing partnership, adding, “Our collaboration will allow you to share with the public the positive developments at Universal Insurance. We are grateful for this partnership and appreciate the opportunity to engage with you.”