The SIC Insurance Group recorded GHC161,929,753.00 as gross premium for the year ending 2017 compared to GHC160,111,229.00 the previous year, showing a marginal growth of 1.13 per cent.

The Net position for the Group recorded a loss of GHC23,472,701.00 as a result of two key transactions incurred by the subsidiary SIC Financial Services Ltd (SIC-FSL), Dr. Jimmy Ben Heymann, Chairman of the Board of Directors stated at the Eleventh Annual General Meeting of the SIC Insurance Company Limited in Accra on Wednesday.

Dr Heymann explained that payments of interest on a loan and an overdraft to the sum of over GHC23.15 million and a bad investment of about GHC25.9 million into a taxi project by SIC-FSL went bad and all the invested funds were lost.

He said these two major items accounted for the loss position of the Group, however the Board and Management have taken steps to restructure SIC-FSL to help curb this position going forward and “I am very optimistic that we will see a turnaround very soon.

“I wish to use this opportunity to commend the Company SIC Insurance for their hard work and commitment that positively impacted our performance for 2017.

“The Board is very optimistic about the prospects of the group and shall ensure strict monitoring to improve its performance”.

Dr Heymann noted that following the rebound of Shareholder confidence in SIC Insurance, the company, “we are pleased to announce some improvement in the performance of your shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

“At the time of our AGM last year, the price of a share of our company was GHC0.10. Just some few days ago, the price has hit GHC0.40, recording over 300 per cent growth in the last eight months.

“We believe that the best is yet to come and your Board is working assiduously with Management and Staff towards that as we remain committed to delivering value to you,” he said.

Dr Heymann explained that operations in 2017 shaped up to be a much stronger year in terms of SIC Insurance performance over the previous years.

“We are glad to announce that our strategic plan has been reviewed and revised to reflect where your company ought to be in the near future.

“We have also put in a lot of work to restructure your subsidiary company SIC-FSL - to give it a clearer direction and focus in terms of its operations and business performance.

“We are already seeing very positive signs of a turnaround and we wish to commend the Management of SIC-FSL”.

On the issue of corporate governance of SIC Insurance, Dr Heymann said since the reconstitution of this new Board of Directors, “we are constantly reviewing and putting corporate policies and standards to encourage good and transparent corporate governance framework to avoid potential conflict of interest between all stakeholders whilst promoting ethical business practices.

“As a publicly listed company, SIC Insurance strives to carry out its business operations on the principles of integrity and professionalism. Our role as a Board is to provide leadership, enterprise, integrity, and good judgement in guiding SIC Insurance to achieve growth and deliver long term sustainable value to shareholders”.

He said as a Board we are always guided by the need for good governance, transparency, accountability, and responsibility to all stakeholders.

Mr Stephen Oduro, Managing Director of SIC Insurance, described the 2017 financial year as very exciting for the Insurance industry as it witnessed a number of changes with some new policy directions and initiatives.

The AGM received and considered the accounts of the Company for the year ended December 31st 2017, together with the Reports of the Directors and the Auditors; it declared dividend for the year ended; fix the remuneration of the Auditors; re-electing of retired Directors and approved Directors' remuneration.