The board of Lasaco Assurance Plc has reassured its shareholders of dividends in the coming years, as it did not pay dividends for the 2023 financial year.
The assurance was given at the 44th annual general meeting of the company held on Friday in Lagos.
The meeting was chaired by a non-executive director, Akinsanya Doherty, in the absence of the chairman of the board, Mrs Olateju Phillips.
He told the shareholders that the firm’s decision not to pay dividends for the 2023 financial year was a strategy aimed at boosting the company’s performance.
Doherty said, “What is trending in life now is not following the Joneses but strategy. Not paying dividends this year is deliberate in order to bake a bigger cake for next year and the future. We are doing so many things. You have heard about the subsidiaries, and they have started working. I’m happy to tell you that the company is posting better results than last year.
“Cybersecurity is one of the issues we mentioned recently and how to ensure it does not pose a threat to your company. The life we have now is one of digital knowledge. I will also talk about the issue of recapitalization; the first phase of recapitalisation is virtually completed, and we are prepared for the first phase, and it is one of the reasons we didn’t pay dividends this year.”
In his comments, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Razzaq Abiodun, informed shareholders that the company was committing a significant part of the fresh funds raised to digitalising the operations of the company and strengthening its ability to play in the retail segment of the market.
He said, “A major use of funds and strategy for this year is to improve our digital capability. And a substantial part of the capital raised is going to be deployed to improve our digital capabilities. If you look at the sales that we have made, about 80 percent of it is related to corporate sales. We want to improve our presence in the retail sector and to make us more efficient, there is no way we can do that without speaking about digital capability.”
Some shareholders at the meeting commended the managers of the company.
One of the shareholders, Lawrence Oguntoye, from Ibadan, said, “I want to appreciate the management that our financial indices for 2023 looked attractive and better than 2022. Also, we celebrate the board and management for a successful recapitalisation in these hard times.”
Oguntoye, however, called for improved performance in the area of motor insurance as well as exploring other businesses that would strengthen the resilience of the company in an inflationary environment.
Another shareholder, Adenike David, also hailed the management of the company over its recapitalisation exercise and called for improved gender balance on the board.