The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has placed full suspension in trading of the shares of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc ahead of delisting of the company and listing it as a holding company.
The Exchange in a report disclosed that trading license holders and the investing public were notified that trading in the shares of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance was suspended.
According to the Exchange, the suspension was necessary to prevent trading in the shares of the Company and to enable the Company to reconcile its books with CSCS for the delisting of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance and listing of Consolidated Hallmark Holdings Plc.
It further noted that the suspension was required to determine the shareholders who would qualify for the consideration.
The shareholders of the Insurance in 2022 approved the proposed Holding Company (HoldCo) structure for Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI) Plc and all schemes of arrangement under Section 715 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.
The shareholders gave the approval at the company’s Court Ordered Meeting held in Lagos both virtually and physically.
By the Scheme of Arrangement, the 10,840,000,000 ordinary shares of 50k each in the issued and paid-up shared capital of the company and held by the shareholders would be transferred to Consolidated Hallmark Holdings Plc.
The shares would be transferred in exchange for the allotment of 10.84 billion ordinary shares of 50k each in the share capital of the Holdco to the shareholders in proportion to their shareholding in the company to be credited as fully paid.
Addressing the shareholders at the meeting, Mr Obinna Ekezie, the company’s Chairman, said that the HoldCo structure would improve Consolidated Hallmark’s valuation by creating a structure where each subsidiary can operate a focused business.
During its 2022 Financial Year, he stressed that the company’s result showed a growth of 22 per cent in Gross Premium Written(GPW) from N10.5 billion in 2021 to N12,8 billion in 2022 while its Underwriting Profit grew from N1.9 billion in 2021 to N2.3 billion in 2022 even as its Total Assets stood at N18.5billion when compared with the N15.6 billion posted in 2021.
“Your company also maintained its unbroken profitability streak by growing Profit Before Taxation to N N1.41billion in 2022 from the N971.67million of 2021 while total profit attributable to shareholders has attained a billion-nairamark, having hit N1.02trillion in 2022 from N923million in 2021,” he informed the shareholders.
