August 18, (THEWILL) — Guinea Insurance Plc posted a loss after tax of N114.7 million in the first half of 2025, compared to a profit of N115.94 million in the same period of 2024 and N936.55 million for the full year 2024.
By this, the 67-year-old insurer has launched back into the profit and dividend draught regime it exited about two years ago which should be a source of concern to the shareholders.
Before the exit from the profit drought in 2023, Guinea Insurance had recorded a cumulative five-year post-tax loss of N1.3 billion as of 2022 – a figure above its N1.2 billion market capitalisation at the time. The firm posted the last profit of N251 million in 2017, after which it launched into the ‘Loss Expressway’ that lasted five consecutive years to 2022.
The exit from the profit and dividend drought period saw Guinea Insurance bounce into profit, recording profit after tax (PAT) of N477.77 million in 2023, constituting a 673.7 percent gain compared to the loss of N83.27 million in the previous year. The growth trajectory culminated in N936.55 million PAT in FY 2024.
The positive trend came on the heels of the regulatory approval by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) for Guinea Insurance to proceed with its proposed issuance of 1.8 billion ordinary shares to shore up its capital base.
According to the firm, the initiative involved the issuance of 1,802,800,000 Ordinary Shares at 50 Kobo per Share which it said represented a reinforcement of its dedication to regulatory compliance and its “clear strategic vision to emerge as one of the key players in Nigeria’s insurance industry”.
The CEO of Guinea Insurance Plc, Mr. Ademola Abidogun, while disclosing the proposal, was full of gratitude for the tremendous support the company received from both stakeholders and regulators in its trying days.
His words, “Guinea Insurance Plc is fully prepared to make the most of this opportunity to further fortify our market position, enhance customer experience, and open doors to even greater possibilities. Our resolute commitment to success and the results of it can be seen from the Company’s performance in Q2 of 2023.”
The HY 2025 negative result also showed basic and diluted earnings per share depreciating to 1.44 kobo, against 1.46 kobo for the six months ended June 2024, and 11.79 kobo for the full year 2024. This was amid revenue increase to N1.42 billion from N1.26 billion in the corresponding HY 2024 and N2.83 billion as of December 31, 2024.
The major drivers of its revenue-draining performance during the period included insurance service expenses which hit N562.58 million and net expenses on reinsurance contracts surging to N408.72 million against N131.40 million representing a jump of 211 percent.
As of 30 June 2025, Guinea Insurance reported total assets of N6.97 billion, compared to N5.70 billion in June 2024 and N6.95 billion in December 2024. Total liabilities stood at N1.86 billion, against N1.85 billion in June 2024 but up from N1.73 billion in December 2024. Equity increased to N5.11 billion from N3.86 billion in June 2024 and N5.22 billion in December 2024.
A review of the company’s unaudited interim report submitted to the Nigerian Exchange (MGX) showed a net negative cash flow of N223.91 million. Investing activities generated a net cash inflow of N124.98 million, primarily due to the liquidation of treasury bills and investment income. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period were N1.21 billion.
The primary driver of the change in equity was the period’s loss and the transfer to the contingency reserve. The contingency reserve balance increased to N966.37 million from N915.66 million at the beginning of the year.
A further look at the firm’s HY 2025 report showed it maintained a statutory deposit of N333.65 million with the Central Bank of Nigeria, while no dividends were proposed or paid during the period.
Guinea Insurance, according to the HY 2025 report, is party to ongoing legal actions with an estimated potential liability of ₦148 million. To maintain a satisfactory corporate governance status, the insurer has a securities trading policy in place to govern dealings in its shares by insiders.
Among the stakeholders who expressed concern over the long period of losses recorded by Guinea Insurance at the time was the National Coordinator, Progressive Shareholders Association (PSN), Boniface Okezie. The PSN boss said investors expected the company they put their money in to do well and create wealth for itself and the investors.
Okezie, who expressed worry over the perpetual loss situation of Guinea Insurance, noted that the company cannot be seen to be doing well with such a level of performance.
“If the company cannot pay a dividend, let it show a strong balance sheet to boost the shareholders’ confidence in the management of the firm. You cannot be posting losses every year and not paying a dividend, then you say you are in business. That is not the way to go.”
He maintained that the insurance company must recapitalise and a handsome reward system was put in place to motivate the workers to seek business and attract more investors.
Okezie had berated the board of Guinea Insurance Plc over its persistent financial losses and inability to pay dividend to shareholders at the 64th Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos in August 2022.
“A man that was born 64 years ago is not a small man. He is a grandpa. Mr. Chairman, here we are, year in, year out we come to this place. If you look at the page convening this annual general meeting all items were listed, but there is no item related to shareholders. Nothing was mentioned about dividend to shareholders,” the shareholders’ group leader said.
Notwithstanding the negative growth performance in HY 2025, Directors’ fees and allowances rose by 265.8 percent to N15.0 million in HY 2025 from N4.1 million in the corresponding period of 2024. Similarly, Directors’ expenses climbed to N95.44 million during the review period from 15.74 million in HY 2024, representing a surge of 506.3 percent.
At the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) exchange, Guinea Insurance closed its last trading day (Friday, August 15, 2025) at N1.49 per share, recording an 8 percent drop from its previous closing price of N1.62.
Guinea Insurance began the year with a share price of N0.81 and has since gained 84 percent on that price valuation instilling optimism in investors about the stock which has accrued 46 percent over the past four-week period alone.
Data by the NGX showed that Guinea Insurance has traded a total volume of 736 million shares—in 6,006 deals—valued at N855 million over the period, with an average of 11.7 million traded shares per session. A volume high of 97.2 million was achieved on August 14th, and a low of 311,088 on May 20th, for the same period.
The current market capitalization is N11.8 billion.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
