In a bid to consolidation its position in pension fund administration, Sigma Pensions Limited has concluded plans to acquire two Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) who are unable to meet the June 30, 2012, recapitalisation deadline.
The Company, Shareholders’ Fund is currently N1.45 billion, a 45 percent increase over the N1 billion minimum capital base stipulated for PFAs by the National Pension Commission (PenCom),? is seeking to acquire weaker PFAs to further increase its presence in the market as well as its capitalisation.
Umar Hamidu Modibbo, Chief Executive Officer of the company noted that with the June 30, deadline on recapitalisation fast approaching, “the weaker are about to go out, so we that are successful should be able to take up the weaker ones.
Right now we are talking to about two PFAs so that we can combine our strength with them in order to increase our presence in the market and our capitalisation. This will enable us do more for the market.”
Moddibo, who spoke during the Company’s Annual General Meeting, in Abuja said the company’s target is to increase its net value asset under management which currently stands at N135.95 billion.
Highlighting the company’s financial performance for the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company Chairman, Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo said its gross income grew from N1.35 billion recorded in 2010 to N1.70 billion, representing a year on year growth of 25.22 per cent. Also, Profit after tax grew by 23.49 per cent from N505.7 million to N624.48 million during the same period.
According to Oladejo, the number of Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders grew from 525,331 as at December 31, 2010 to 539,203 as at December 2011, while the value of the RSA Fund grew from N62.05 billion to N79.39 billion during the same period. Total net assets under management grew from N112 billion to N137 billion representing a growth of 22.10 per cent.
In accordance with the dividend policy of the company, the chairman said a dividend of 16 kobo per share has been approved by the board of directors for payout in 2011 compared to the 14 kobo per share paid in 2010.
Reacting to the ongoing Pensions Fund scam going on currently, the managing director said, that all the atrocities, as revealed from the probe, was on the old scheme.
“The new scheme that commenced in 2004 are the ones that are there to correct the failings in the past. The contributory pension scheme is a fallout of the old scheme, which had a lot of problems. And now we have a reasonable number, about five million people have registered under the new scheme and we don’t have these problems at all,” he said.