“Our expansion into other West African countries will continue to be a top of the agenda item for 2019. With the right issue successfully concluded and funds made available for expansion, we are confident that sooner than later, these objectives will be achieved,” Mr Gadzekpo said at the company's 2018 annual general meeting (AGM) on June 25 in Accra.

Towards the end of 2018, he said the company made significant improvement in its Nigeria entry and would pursue it aggressively in 2019.

He explained that as part of the continued joint collaboration between itself and other partners, some areas of priority had been identified as it continued to drive growth, value and efficiencies.

According to him, these include entry into Nigeria, customer relationship management, Enterprise Insurance business profitability, expense management, redefining its retail presence, talent management and improved risk controls.

Next five years

Beyond that, the CEO indicated that in the course of the year, the company would be spending time to develop its strategy to give its businesses the strategic direction for the next five years.

This year, he said, the company would sustain its growth trajectory of its various companies.

“In this light, we have made some changes to our organisational structures to accommodate the new emphasis on growth. These have resulted in some personnel movements in the management of some of our subsidiaries,” he stated.

He said the company expected a more concerted move towards fiscal consolidation in 2019.

That, he said, should create a more reasonable space for robust levels of economic activities.

“Projected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of six per cent will be underpinned by a continued ramping-up of oil and gas production from the Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) and Sankofa fields. These, in addition to gradual restoration of confidence in the financial services sector, should position us for successes,” he added.

Dividend payment

For his part, the Chairman of the company, Mr Trevor Trefgarne, said the EGL had begun paying dividends to its shareholders after a two-year break.

The decision by the company to declare GH?0.045 dividend to its shareholders was based on its strong performance for the 2018 financial year.

Its net income, for instance, grew by 12 per cent to GH?607.167 million in 2018 from GH?542.651 million recorded in 2017.

The company’s profit after tax also increased by two per cent to GH?87.949 million for the period under review.

He observed that the company’s performance for the year showed its determination to continually improve irrespective of the tough prevailing conditions in the business environment.

“We grew our net income by 12 per cent as against 28 per cent in 2017, profit after tax went up by only two per cent compared to 27.9 per cent in 2017, due to impairments made on receivables and interest paid on loans it secured,” he said.

The strategy of the company, he stated, was to grow across all its subsidiaries, including Enterprise Life, Enterprise Insurance, Enterprise Trustees and Transitions.