The Chairman, Board of Directors of Premium Pensions Limited has declared that the company made N629.58 million profit after tax in the 2011 financial year.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the 7th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, the chairman also declared that the board has recommended for the consideration and approval of the shareholders a dividend of 30 kobo per share gross and a bonus share of one new for every 10 held.

"I am happy to report that this is the fifth time in a row our company has declared dividends and the first time the company would issue bonus shares," he said.

He said the company's profit before tax grew from N489.47 million in 2010 to N936.82 in 2011 representing an increase of 91.40 percent while its gross income also grew to N2.17 billion as against N1.54 billion in 2010.

He said that as at 31st December 2011, the number of contributors both in public and private sector organizations grew by 11 percent to close at 422,572 Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) as against 381,672 RSAs registered in 2010.

He added that funded accounts marginally increased by 4 percent from 304,726 as at 31st December 2010 to 318,068 as at 31st December 2011.

He said that despite the remarkable successes recorded, the industry had grappled with a number of challenges such as the reluctance of some players in the private sector to fully imbibe the scheme and the slow phase at which states of the federation joined the scheme.

Others include the non-inclusion of the informal sector of the economy, the non-funding or delayed funding of Retirement Savings Accounts by some employers and insufficient outlets for pension funds investments.

"May I appeal to PenCom to expeditiously address the problems of non-funding or delayed funding of RSAs, workout a framework for the inclusion of informal sector in the scheme, embark on aggressive campaign to encourage the remaining reluctant states to join the scheme and above all, enforce total compliance with the requirements of pension reform act by all relevant employers of labour," he said.