The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Chi

  • CHI becomes Holdco

    CHI becomes Holdco

    • Announces 32%revenue growth

    Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI) Plc, now Consolidated Hallmark Holdings (CHH) Plc, has held its inaugural Annual General Meeting (AGM) as a Holdco.

    At the meeting, it announced a revenue growth of N15.7 billion in the financial year end 2023 from N11.9 billion in 2022.The growth represents a 32 per cent growth in revenue.

    Total Assets of the company recorded a significant leap to N26.2 billion when compared with the N18.2 billion of 2022, a significant 44 per cent growth in the total assets of the company.

    Profit before tax rose to N4.6 billion from the N983million it made in 2022 while total profit attributable to shareholders for the 2023 financial year rose to N3.8 billion from N547million in 2022.

    To show more commitment to shareholders, the company paid a dividend of N0.05 or 5 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo, totalling a dividend payout of N542 million.

    The Chairman CHH, Shuaib Abubakar Idris, said the amount payable, as usual, is subject to the appropriate withholding tax. Upon your approval of the dividend proposed, bank accounts of qualifying shareholders who have updated their records with the registrars shall be credited beginning from the end of the AGM.

    He said he and his colleagues on the Board assumed the mantle of leadership in January 2024, following the transition of your company to a Holding Company structure.

    He said: “The Annual Report and Accounts being presented to you during this meeting, therefore, is a review of the 2023 Financial Year under the then Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc and its then subsidiaries.The year 2023 was indeed full of hopes and expectations, for us as an organisation, the economy generally, and the entire nation.

    Read Also: Obasanjo parleys Southeast Govs on Nnamdi Kanu

     Being an election year, the political transition came with its usual uncertainties and the attendant challenges on all fronts. Against all odds however, the results for the Group’s performance in 2023 were still positive in various key performance indicators as we shall see from this report.

    Like other years, factors which impacted the performance of your company transcended the local scene. A brief analysis of the interplay of some of these factors is imperative to situate events.

    Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Eddie Efekoha added that the journey to their new status started from 2007, following the market recapitalisation, which led to the emergence of the then Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, which was focused on the general insurance business.

    He said the company has since evolved into a financial services institution which encompasses General Insurance, Micro Life Assurance, Health Maintenance, and a Finance company business.

    Speaking on their financial performance, he said the company has maintained its growth trajectory and paid dividends for most of its years of operations.

    He said: “In spite of these economic challenges, your Company was able to grow the Group’s Insurance Revenue to N16.62 billion from N12.06 billion recorded in 2022. This represents a 31 per cent improvement and a 693 per cent growth from the N1.5 billion premium income of the 2007 financial year.

    “The Company grew the Total Assets to N26b from N18b in 2022. In comparative terms, we have been able to achieve a 465 per cent growth from the Total Assets of N4.6 billion in 2007. I am happy to inform the shareholders that the bottom line also recorded an improvement of 589 per cent growth from a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N547 million in 2022 to N3.7 billion in 2023”.

    On prompt claims payments, he said: “One of our major strategies remains the prompt payment of fully documented claims. This has continued to endear us to our clients in retail, corporates, and brokerage. We have further simplified the processes using technology to Fasttrack the claims journey. The amount expended on claims has risen significantly over the years as we fully meet our obligations.

    “In 2023, Group Claims Settlement was N5.09 billion from the N4.46 billion expended in 2022. There has been a rise by 2,485 per cent in 2023 FY over the 2007 claims payment figure of N197.2 million. As a Group, we remain committed to prompt claims settlement whether in Health Insurance, Micro life Assurance or in our General Business and Special Risks Insurance,” he noted.

  • The voice of Chi

    No greater irony in the last round of polls than the victories of Simon Lalong of Plateau State and Samuel Ortom of Benue State. Fellow columnist and member of The Nation editorial board Femi Macaulay first pointed it out in one of our casual, if sometimes luminous, dialogues on the state of the nation. In his taciturn air and often deep, grave voice, Macaulay observed it in passing, his face looking down and away. My antenna quivered and I agreed, but we said no more.

    It occurred to him that both governors stood on two antipodes. Lalong called for embrace among his tribes and faiths. Ortom dangled the spectre of fear and hate. But I have turned it over in my mind ever since.  One called the herdsman a foe and interloper, a bloodthirsty carpetbagger, a hoodlum, a savage from the furnace of human treachery. He invoked Armageddon and enacted a law to banish his group.

    The other set a template like his Lord, and called for love for your enemies, seek ways in the language of the Psalmist for all to dwell together in harmony. Hate he saw as corrosion, a demeaning virus in the affairs of men. Ortom was probably looking at Christianity and his state as practitioners of a cult, adhering to its purposes, codes, rituals and sense of exclusive community. While Lalong dreamed nirvana, Ortom said never.

    Yet both pray to the same God. We can ignore their first names as icons of the Christian faith. One a prophet smothered in beard and solemn vows and the other a leper who hosted Christ and led to an opulence of oil anointing. We can also discount the meanings. Samuel points to petitions answered and Simon indicates a listening ear.  No contrast in the biblical sphere, so that should not bother us.

    But Benue and Plateau are neighbours. In some places, their borders meet without a joint. Not long ago, they were one state known as Benue Plateau, and they played politics as one unit. I hear they make pounded yam by day and make love at night. Yet they voted differently. Benue voted Ortom, which endorsed the rhetoric of division. Lalong was going to win all along. But it means Plateau endorsed unity.

    We cannot forget that, in the high wire of the herdsman fury, President Buhari goofed into the conversation, asking the Benue elders to embrace their neighbours. So what do we make of this contradictory trends in the polls. We also saw some of that strain in the retention of Ishaku in Taraba and Bindow’s ouster in Adamawa. But nowhere is it more potent than the contiguous neighbours.

    It indicated a binary war within the Nigerian soul, like the womb of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau, where the good book says they represented two worlds, antipodal nerves. So part of us loves the hate, part of us loves the love. We are like Walt Whitman’s line in Leaves of Grass. “Do I contradict myself? Yes I contradict myself… I am large, I contain multitudes.”

    So, what voice do we listen to now? Is it the one that harries and yaps, or the lolling, mollifying rhythm of Lalong? Shall we just abide with the divided self, a thing Salman Rushdie implies as inevitable in his turbulent novel The Satanic Verses?

    Nor is it a new thing in our society or others. From the beginning of time, ‘we versus them’ has been a strain in communities. We have those who close their minds to others and others who welcome. Ortom was accused in the high temper of the crisis of exploiting it for political gain. He used it to put down the herdsmen, even sometimes when it was them and sometimes when it was mere criminals. Some have argued that the mass burial day of coffins was less to mourn than a call to electoral arms. Even some members of his own security apparatus have been accused of stoking it. He never stopped to raise its spectre even when the state was quiescent. On the other hand, Lalong would not sign anti-grazing law, once proposed and eventually abandoned the idea of a ranch. He buried the Plateau dead in peace. But he had from the beginning pursued a template for all, including the Hausa-Fulani and Birom, to work together. It did not always work, but he did not faint, even when the state erupted with blood and tears.

    Fear is easy to invoke in times of stress. But to appeal to our better angels is a risky place to tread, and it can be politically fatal. Ortom chose the cowardly and cynical path. Lalong walked the narrow path, what Shakespeare calls a walk in the night. He endured and won.

    Trump rides human fear and hate, and he may ride it again to a second term, just like Ortom. To inspire fear needs a few and simple words. To allay fears compels circuitous explanations, often seen as boring. Trump says Mexicans are rapists, drug addicts and murderers. You have to write an essay to counter. Who would read that? And the voice of conciliation is not on the rooftop, but gentle and coaxing, what the Bible calls a “still small voice.” Hence Brexit passed, Duterte of the Philippines is popular, Orban of Hungary rouses nationalist passion, and Merkel is at the bottom of the polls in Germany. Ghandi may be the world’s darling but Indians grovel at Nehru’s feet because he chose tribe over humanity. Yet all these countries are at war in their souls. Those who want embrace rage against the racists. History has shown that fear wins when the society is already on the way down and it accelerates the fall.

    The Greek orator Isocrates – not Socrates – tried in vain to work Athens to bind the Greek city states together as Athens declined. Persia was on the rise and threatened. But the parliament as if held hostage by some Greek goddess even voted out its own democracy. When they unite, societies grow. When they breed divisive ideologies, they splinter and fall. First they grow fat, and become self-important and hate others as if they own destiny. Paul Kennedy noted this in The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Garibaldi held together the Italian States, with Cavour. Bismarck built the German State to its height of culture and even military prowess. But when Hitler came with his narrow, suffocating Nazi ideology, the Allies bombed Germany to its knees. Trump does not read, so he does not know that the great USA is in decline and he is helping it down.

    The voices of unity and division are speaking simultaneously as reflected in Benue and Plateau. It is like the Chi in Igbo cosmology talking to his host as novelist Chigozie Obioma delineates in his new and masterly work, An Orchestra of Minorities. What is the Chi of wisdom? Is it Lalong or Ortom? Even many in Benue State are going through voter’s remorse. Ortom moved to PDP, beheaded his godfathers and rules the roost. But the voters now know that the man had no other item to run on in the last election than the fear of the herdsman. Now the people will face the demons: no salaries, bad roads, poor healthcare with perhaps the fewest number of doctors in the country.

    What Ortom did is what maligns society. I would rather listen to a Simon Lalong, who personifies the Chi speaking to the host, Nigeria.

  • The Chi who wrote about chi

    The Chi here is not the guiding spirit in Igbo cosmology. This Chi is Chigozie Obioma, the author of An Orchestra of Minorities, in which the chi is the narrator. You can say Chi wrote about chi and you will be right.

    If there is any paragraph in Chi’s book that will stay with me for a long time, it is where the chi speaks of “the land of lack, of man-pass-man, the land in which a man’s greatest enemies are members of his household; a land of kidnappers, of ritual killers, of policemen who bully those they encounter on the road and shoot those who don’t bribe them, of leaders who treat those they lead with contempt and rob them of their commonwealth, of frequent riots and crisis, of long strikes, of petrol shortages, of joblessness, of clogged gutters, of potholed roads…and of constant power outages”.

    I am sure we all know this land, which Chi used the chi to talk about. But my concerns today are my take away from my Monday evening chat with Chi— a first-class student at the Cyprus International University, where he won a scholarship for a second degree and stayed back to lecture before America beckoned. At 27, his novel The Fishermen, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shook the literary community. Now at 33, he is an Assistant Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His An Orchestra of Minorities, in my view, has the potential to do better than The Fishermen.

    For someone with these sterling records, you will expect Chi’s head to swell like Ijebu gari. But no, he acknowledges the fact that luck had a role in his achievements in life.

    He says: “I have classmates; we went to this elite school top programme in creative writing and I was like the only one who sold my book, even from the set before us. Then there is this girl who just sold hers, and there is another about to sell hers. That is out of about 22 people. Some of them are working in McDonald now, getting very low pay but they are fantastic writers.  Not everybody is going to succeed in that…You need luck.”

    Another takeaway from our encounter is that art endures more than anything else. That is why he believes the first focus of any work of art should be the artistry. “Fiction, for me, is a lot of things. It is a story but it is also how you tell the story. For instance, everybody can draw, but what makes a great painter is the light, the colour, the shades brought to the drawing. 200 people can draw a portrait of you, but one will stand out and people will say this is a work of art.”

    He adds: “I think it is a mistake when you just set out to pursue an agenda. Artistry should be the focus. If not, you end up writing propaganda and I see that a lot. True it can get you a lot of money and fame because everybody is politically wired, but it will not endure in the end. What endures in the most is the art.”

    This quest for enduring art has created a problem for him. The problem is that he is always on the lookout for ways, other than the traditional, to tell stories. No wonder he wrote an over 500-page long novel in which the narrator is the chi. “I don’t like to tell stories in a traditional way so I am always thinking of an invention.”

    Those who have read Chi’s essay, The Audacity of Prose, will not be surprised about his ‘disdain’ for the traditional.

    “The essential work of art is to magnify the ordinary, to make that which is banal glorious through artistic exploration. Thus, fiction must be different from reportage; painting from photography. And this difference should be reflected in the language of the work — in its deliberate constructiveness, its measured adornment of thought, and in the arrangement of representative images so that the fiction about a known world becomes an elevated vision of that world. That is, the language acts to give the “ordinary” the kind of artistic clarity that is the equivalent of special effects in film. While the special effect can be achieved by manipulating various aspects of the novel, such as the structure, voice, setting, and others, the language is the most malleable of all of them. All these can hardly be achieved with sparse, strewn-down prose that mimics silence,” he argued in that essay for The Millions.

    I left Labule restaurant in Ogudu-GRA, Lagos that Monday with the feeling that pursuing one’s passion and standing for what you believe are enduring virtues. Before studying in Cyprus, Chi was at a private university in Enugu. But, his chi led him away from the place, which he saw as a time-waster. “I did Economics in a Nigerian private university in Enugu but it was a complete waste of my time. I left there because I was always protesting and they were going to throw me out.” His chi led him to Cyprus where his star shone and soon America saw it and liked it and we are all reaping the goodness through The Fishermen and An Orchestra of Minorities and more to come.

    He also struck me as very principled. Or, how do you see someone who pulled his book from a dollar-denominated prize because he felt the sponsor was causing havoc to the people?

    My final take: I love the fact that Chi also put to good use the interesting dynamics of his childhood. He is the fifth of twelve children. Their home in Akure, the Ondo State capital, was noisy. As a recluse, he would always hide and books provided him safe havens. This Chi, who speaks Yoruba, Igbo, English and Turkish, started reading as early as six years of age. And the more he read the more he discovered he could also write. Noise thus produced a world-class writer. What this means is that we can always make something of whatever situation we find ourselves.

  • When your chi tells your story

    Like most great novels, Chigozie Obioma’s An Orchestra of Minorities can easily be mistaken as the tale of the main characters. In this case, an average reader will see Obioma’s sophomore as the story of Nonso, a poultry farmer, and Ndali— who he calls Mommy. A deeper reader will discover much more in this tale set largely in Umuahia, slightly in Lagos and Abuja, and a lot in Cyprus.

    On the periphery, it reads like this: Nonso, a 24-year-old lonely orphan, sees Ndali trying to jump off a bridge into water. He persuades her against it. To show how painful it will be, he flings two of his prized fowls into the water. She rescinds her decision and both of them go their separate ways. They run into each other months later. Ndali feels she owes him her life. He is to find out that heartbreak was responsible for her attempted suicide. A relationship soon starts and before long, Nonso feels like marrying Ndali and tells her his plan.

    And then begins the real drama of their lives. Ndali’s father is rich, stupendously rich, and finds it difficult to accept an illiterate poultry farmer as son-in-law. Through Ndali’s brother, Chuka, Nonso is humiliated a couple of times. The humiliation gets him thinking and talking with Ndali and a friend, Elochukwu, and in the long run, he discovers that getting an education may swing things in his favour. Another dilemma sets in: with universities in Nigeria ever on strike, he wonders how many years it will take to complete a degree. Still, he picks the matriculation form, but soon opts for the option of selling his valuables and heading abroad for studies. Everything appears set until he gets to Cyprus and discovers he has been scammed.

    Cyprus turns out hellish. Passers-by call him “slave”. He is mistaken for the Brazilian football star Ronaldinho, and the jealous husband of an expatriate nurse from Germany who helps him turns things upside down. He turns out one of the minorities in faraway land and his shouts for help or his cries for bailout sound more like an orchestra without efficacious power. Returning home only aggravates things. And a lot more sad events follow, which you need to find out!

    But on a larger scale, An Orchestra of Minorities is deeper than just the tale of Nonso and Ndali. It is the story of the power of love, the sacrifice a man or a woman is ready to make for love not to suffocate and die. It is a wrestle between destiny and determination. It is rich in folklore and it is a morality tale, with betrayal and revenge as major themes.

    This tragicomedy told by Nonso’s chi, the word for guardian spirit in Igbo cosmology, is far more ambitious than Obioma’s critically acclaimed debut The Fishermen. No one knows you better than your guardian spirit, and using this all-seeing spirit as the narrator gives Obioma the opportunity to tell it all despite the fact that the narration is in first person. The omniscient nature of the chi also gives Obioma the leverage to dwell in the spiritual realm, such that parts of the book read like magical realism. We see the spirit taking leave of the host’s body to spy. We see the chi putting thoughts in the host’s mind in order to influence his actions. We see chis of two beings having a chit-chat. We also see a ghost crying in a bus pleading against a marriage on account that the suitor is a murderer. Of course, the one the ghost is speaking to cannot hear, only the chi does. And we see the chi at times helpless while Nonso faces the adversities of life. We equally see the chi fascinated by the workings of an aircraft, especially after taking leave of its host to wander outside of the plane thousands of feet above sea level. And, let me confess, this book has got me thinking whether it is my chi trying to influence the course of my life when thoughts are dropped in my mind.

    Since the chi is giving testimony before God, it gives the book an oral feel and makes it highly lyrical. The language is beautiful. The figurative language is amazing and rich. If you doubt me, take these samples: “Anungharingaobialili, when a man encounters something that reminds him of an unpleasant event in his past, he pauses at the door of the new experience, carefully considering whether or not to enter it.”

    And: “Ijango-Ijango, over many sojourns in the human world, I have heard the venerable fathers, in their kaleidoscopic profundity, say that no matter the weight of grief, nothing can compel the eyes to shed tears of blood.”

    I like the similes and metaphors in this staggering 516-page novel. Two of my favourite similes are: “like insects around a glob of sugarcane” and “like a thing with wheels into the future”.

    The proverbs are good too, really good. They are African, Igboish if you like; and it gives the book the Things Fall Apart feel.

    I must not fail to point out the subtle political sub-theme in the book. It is encapsulated in these words: “But he thought even more that these people were happy because they had been lifted from places where they were suffering into this new country. The plane had lifted out of the land of lack, of man-pass-man, the land in which a man’s greatest enemies are members of his household; a land of kidnappers, of ritual killers, of policemen who bully those they encounter on the road and shoot those who don’t bribe them, of leaders who treat those they lead with contempt and rob them of their commonwealth, of frequent riots and crisis, of long strikes, of petrol shortages, of joblessness, of clogged gutters, of potholed roads…and of constant power outages.” This is like telling the sad story of our nation in one relatively long paragraph. And from the look of things, changes are not about to happen.

    My final take: Obioma talks about long strikes, and ASUU’s strike coincided with the release of the book in the United Kingdom and the United States. We hear progress is being made. But will a day ever come when we will be back in the golden era when a four-year course will not be extended? This is a task that must be done because without it, we will remain in the hell we are and perish there.

  • CHI gets shareholders’ nod to raise N734.5m additional capital

    Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI) Plc, has received its shareholders’ approval to raise N734.5million additional capital through private placement.

    The shareholders gave the nod to the Board of Directors at the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) called in Lagos for additional capital through private placement of 1,130,000,000 units at the price of 65 Kobo per share. This will bring N734.5 million to the coffers of the company.

    Its Chairman, Mr. Obinna Ekezie also sought formal approval of shareholders for the increase in authorised shares of the company from the current 10,billion units of 50 Kobo par value per share to 15billion through the creation of an additional five billion units, a request that was equally approved.

    With this, the firm’s Share Capital  will be increased from N5billion to N7.5billion.

    Ekezie said this was next in the series of the Board’s and Management’s proactive efforts  to boost the firm’s working capital and adequately position it as a leading player in the underwriting of big ticket insurance transactions, having successfully raised N500 million through the Rights Issue to existing shareholders of 1,000,000,000 units that was 108 per cent subscribed to during the last quarter of 2017, but concluded in the first quarter of this year.

    The firm’s Managing Director ,  who is also the current president of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Eddie Efekoha, said since insurance business is about capital, the raising of additional capital would allow the insurer to take more big ticket insurance transactions, thereby, increasing the profit portfolio of the company, as well as give good returns on investments to shareholders.

    Efekoha added that the future plans of the firm includes broadening its product offerings to take advantage of the on-going market development initiatives of the industry regulator and strengthening its technology in order to deepen its footprints in the retail market while delighting its existing corporate customers.

  • Chi wins Top 50 brands award

    CHI Limited has again been recognised among the foremost brands at the Top 50 Brands Nigeria Awards as Nigeria’s leading manufacturer of fruit juices, dairy products and snacks.

    At the heart of the recognition are innovative products, like Chivita and Hollandia, which are benchmarks and definitive standards in their categories.

    By identifying needs and meeting them, adopting innovative approach to consumer trends, delivering on their value proposition and effectively communicating same to the consumer, Chivita and Hollandia have become household names in Nigeria.

    The Chief Executive Office of Top 50 Brands Nigeria, Taiwo Oluboyede, noted that the top brands for this year are fast-growing in value and have succeeded in delivering their promise to the consumers.

    The company chief said the brands adopted a winning habit of delivering something special by often doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways.

    He added: “Chivita and Hollandia, from the stable of CHI Limited, are two brands that have stood out in their categories for their conscious effort to build equity by offering healthy products with superior value and insightful consumer engagements that shape how consumers experience the brands.”

     

  • CHI is law abiding, says MD

    Consolidated Hallmark Insurance(CHI) is a law-abiding firm that does not give room for sanctions, the Managing Director of the underwriting firm, Eddie Efekoha, ha said.

    He spoke during the CHI dinner and interactive session with insurance brokers on ‘Emerging InsurTech Trends: Driving Growth in a Digital World’ in Lagos.

    Efekoha, who is also the President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria(CIIN), said the firm was  professionally run and always abided by the ethical standard of insurance profession, said the firm has paid dividend seven times in the last 10 years, while it has settled all its claims.

    He noted that the firm participated in huge marine claims payment of N2.1 billion to an individual client in the insurance industry.

    He promised customers of prompt claims settlement and service delivery, adding that the firm was determined to increase insurance penetration and acceptance in the country. He  also promised its shareholders good returns on Investment.

    He applauded brokers, who have consistently become the  backbone of the company by bringing their insurance businesses to Consolidated Hallmark. He disclosed that the firm will always come out with innovative products and services that will suit the needs and yearnings of the insuring public.

    The recent threat by the National Assembly to instruct Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) to close down the firm, he said, was an uniformed decision, adding that his firm had done nothing wrong to warrant such.

    He said: “As a company, we always tried to improve  to deliver exceptional services to our clients. We have paid all our claims in the last 11 years. Nobody has taken us to court on the account of non-settlement of claims. On a year-on-year basis, the claims we have paid has continued to increase, yet, we have been paying them. We will not relent in the discharge of its duties as expected as we are judicious in the way we invest and utilise shareholders’ funds though we  the company might not have declared bogus profit, we have consistently declared profits over time.

    “To increase our bottom line and reap from the huge insurance potentials in the country, we have redeveloped our strategy, leveraging on technology to give better and seamless services to its relevant stakeholders.

    “We might not have big capital, but we have the competence. We are the leader in Aviation, Marine and in Oil and Gas insurance businesses and the industry can attest to that. Very recently, we have paid a major claim. On the 19th of April, 2018, we have a marine claim of N2.1 billion of which we are the lead insurer and before October, 2018, the claim was paid. We don’t value investment income over that of claims, even though, we need it to reward our shareholders,” he added.

  • Chi Ltd launches its exotic pineapple coconut in 150ml pack size

    Chi Exotic Nectar has unveiled a new 150ml pack size for its hugely popular Pineapple Coconut product variant. The new pack size which promises to offer the same superior taste the brand is renowned and cherished for is a strategic move to provide distinctive refreshment to a wider spectrum of Nigerian consumers.

    Retailing at N50, the product line innovation comes at a pocket friendly price. The new 150ml Chi Exotic Pineapple Coconut pack is the result of deploying consumer insights and marketing intelligence to drive brand growth in a dynamic market environment.

    The Chi Exotic Pineapple Coconut 150ml pack size’s rich unique fruity blend offers an irresistible taste and distinctive refreshment that makes it ideal for indulgence and relaxation. Its superior taste and handy pack size is poised to connect with the preferences and healthy choices of a youthful consumer segment.

    According to a brand analyst with Pride Communications, Linus Nwokoji, the fruit juice segment market is becoming driven by competition, retail power and local consumer choices that increasingly determine brand and product line extension trajectory. ”The Chi Exotic Pineapple Coconut 150ml pack size is an innovative way to invigorate the market with its affordable N50 retail price. Its superior taste is sure to enable it trigger more demand, maintain market dominance, and as well as improve penetration in geographical markets,” he stated.

    Speaking on the introduction of the new pack size, Chi Limited’s Marketing Director, Mr. Probal Bhattacharya, said the Chi Exotic Pineapple Coconut 150ml pack size demonstrates the brand’s resolve to deepen its market reach by offering consumers an affordable option without compromising their quest for distinctive refreshment and indulgent taste. ”We are confident about the prospects of the new Chi Exotic Pineapple Coconut 150ml pack size. The 150ml pack size was introduced to align with the demand and choices of consumers by availing them the same healthy great tasting juice, but just for N 50 – which is both pocket friendly and value driven,” he added.

    The new Chi Exotic Pineapple Coconut 150ml pack adds to the currently existing 1Ltr, 500ml, 315ml, and 180ml pack sizes. It can be purchased in any Chi Shoppe, neighbourhood kiosks and departmental stores across Nigeria.

  • CHI posts 76% profit

    Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc 2017 operating results have shown a 76 per cent growth of profit before tax to N641 million from N368.1 million recorded during the preceding year.

    Investment Income grew from   N472.3 million to N796.5 million in 2017.

    Total assets of the company hit an all-time high of N9.49 billion in the 2017 financial year under review from the N7.44 billion of 2016.

    The underwriting firm, however, generated a gross premium ofN5.680 billion against N5.826 billion in 2016, recording a 2.5 per cent decline in the top line.

    But there was, a 9.2 per cent growth in the net underwriting income from N3, 711,989,442 in 2016 to N4,053,742,495.

    Its Chairman, Obinna Ekezie, who spoke on the results achieved in 2017 during the firm’s 23rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), said the firm has also continued to keep its commitments to policy holders through prompt claims settlement.

    He stated that claims expenses rose significantly by 93 per cent from N1.730 billion in 2016 to N3.354 billion, but was cushioned by the robust reinsurance arrangement in place.

    He stressed that in keeping to their promise of ensuring better returns, the firm was able to grow its bottom line.

    He noted that a total dividend of N140 million, translating to two Kobo per share will be paid to shareholders. He further disclosed that the firm was able to successfully add the N500 million set out to raise its working capital.

    He said: “During our 22nd Annual General Meeting in May, last year, we informed shareholders approved additional capital raise. I wish to express my appreciation for the support shareholders displayed during the first phase of the exercise by picking up your rights. We were able to successfully add the N500 million we set out to raise to our working capital through your full support.

    “We have since commenced expansion of our operations with the deployment of the additional capital raised. The next phase of the exercise shall be carried out shortly,” he added.

     

  • CHI posts 108% growth in profit

    Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI Plc) has reported a 108 per cent leap in its profit for the financial year ended  December 31, 2017.

    In its results, which were submitted within the regulatory timeline and recently approved by all regulators, including the capital market, the company posted a Profit After Tax of N406.2 million when compared with the N194.9 of the 2016 financial year.

    Also, Profit Before Tax grew by 74 per cent from N368.1 in 2016 to N641 million in 2017.

    Further details of the results made available to shareholders of the company show appreciable progress in investment activities as well.

    The underwriting income grew from N472.3 million to N796.2 million in 2017.

    Meanwhile, the Total Assets of the company have risen by 27 per cent from the N7.44 billion it was in 2016 to N9.49 billion during the period under review.

    Revenue reported for the period through Gross Premium Written was N5.6 billion, while a Net Underwriting Income of N4.05 was recorded.

    Managing Director of the company, Mr. Eddie Efekoha said the firm continues to fulfill its obligations through prompt claims settlement as gross amount paid out  during the year under review stoos at N3.3 billion.

    The positive result, he said is an affirmation of the firm’s assurance to shareholders that they should expect more returns in the nearest future, adding that its recent capacity expansion and growth initiatives will help to grow revenue.

    He added that plans were  afoot to hold the Annual General Meeting (AGM), where in line with its policy of rewarding shareholders for their steadfastness. Dividend payment, he promised, will be proposed to shareholders for approval.

    CHI Plc has paid dividends seven times in the last 10 years.