NSE lifts trading suspension on Universal Insurance
Adesola Afolabi was a businessamlive reporter and Head of Financial desk.
…as firm reports N54.5m loss after tax, partners with NURTW on passenger insurance
The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) has lifted the suspension placed on trading on the shares of Universal Insurance Plc with effect from Wednesday, August 7, 2019.
The lifting of the suspension, according to the NSE, followed Universal Insurance Plc’s submission of its audited full year results for 2018 which met the requirements of the regulator.
In a bulletin released Wednesday signed by Lilian Dako of the NSE’s listings regulation department, the NSE said the insurance company has now filed its audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December, 2018.
The NSE had suspended the shares of 11 listed companies from being traded for non compliance with rule 3.1, rules for filing of accounts and treatment of default filing. The rules provide that “if an issuer fails to file the relevant accounts by the expiration of the cure period, the exchange will suspend trading in the issuer’s securities and notify the Securities and Exchange Commission and the market within two business days after the end of the cure period”.
The released 2018 full year audited results showed the company reported a loss after tax of N54.5 million. This is in contrast to the N636 million declared as profit after tax for the same period of 2017.
Earnings per share thus fell to a negative region of 29 kobo from N3.97 earned in 2017 while directors of the firm declared no dividend.
However, the company in a separate filing to the NSE, disclosed that it has keyed into the Passengers Manifest Scheme (PAMS) project of the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), becoming the official underwriter of the initiative.
The insurance firm said, being the official underwriter for the scheme will aid its proposition to play a significant role in the insurance industry retail space.
The PAMS initiative was designed to ensure that passengers travelling by road across the country have their names authenticated in the union’s digital manifest and are covered with genuine insurance policy.
In event of any accident, passengers who sustain injuries are treated in the designated hospital near the location of the incident and in case of death, or permanent disability; the Universal Insurance will pay compensation to the victim or to the next of kin of the deceased respectively.