Nairametrics|AXA Mansard is the largest company by capitalization on the NSE Insurance index, with a market capitalization of N17 billion Naira. France based, AXA insurance acquired a majority stake in the firm in 2015. The company posted impressive Q3 2016 results in the light of the difficult operating environment.
For the first nine months through September 2016, net premium income was up 15.60 percent to N8.45 billion while gross premium written rose 25.48 percent to N16.94 billion Naira in a low premium penetration environment.
The company also saw made huge profits in foreign exchange gains which jumped from a negative of N202 million to N2.5 billion naira as at Q3 2016. This reflected in profit after tax which increased by 71% from N1.7 billion Naira in Q3 2015 to N3.0 billion Naira in the corresponding period of 2016.
Axa Mansard is presently trading at N1.62 Naira per share close to its 52week year low of N1.56 naira per share. The company also has a record of consistent interim and final dividend payment. The massive increase in profits, as well as low price earnings ratio of 7.73 and price to book value ratio of 0.8x make the stock a BUY.