The Nigerian Stock Exchange has granted its approval to Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc to list on the trading floor, the 264, 695,000 units of the over subscribed portion of the 1billion ordinary shares offered for subscription during the company’s private placement in 2006.
The Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and member of the quotation committee, Professor Ndi Onyiuke Okereke in granting the approval, expressed her satisfaction with the level of the company’s traded stocks on the floor of the capital market. She enjoined the Management not to relent in their efforts at ensuring that the organisation remains active in the minds of the investing public.
Undoubtedly, the rising profile of the organization has been very consistent going by the positive showings of its growth rate. The unaudited result released for the third quarter which ended in September 2007, revealed that the company recorded a remarkable increase of 70% and 84% over the same period of the last financial year in gross premium and profit before tax respectively. Profit after tax also increased significantly by 89%. Likewise, its share premium account was boosted by as much as 1673.67 percent, having been raised from N18.57 million in 2006 to N329.37 million as at the end of September 2007.
The company continues to be the lead underwriters in the oil and gas downstream sector for all the major players in the industry. In the same vein, it has performed creditably well with a highly prized general accident book, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 35%.
Recently, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc was appointed as one of the consortium of insurance companies to underwrite some of the major capital projects in Ekiti State. The company has also promised to make qualitative insurance services available at all levels of the economy.
In a not too distant time from now, the company will be going to the capital market for its Initial Public Offer to give Nigerians the opportunity of being part owners of the fastest growing insurance company in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.