Nico Holdings diversifies portfolio, sets up new firm
Nico Holdings plc, a Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE)-listed financial services group, has established a new company Nico Capital Limited to facilitate growth of portfolio investments and investment of pension funds.
In an interview on Friday in Blantyre on the sidelines of the presentation of the group’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, Nico Holdings plc managing director Vizenge Kumwenda said the company, which is a key component in the group’s growth strategy, will spot investment opportunities and offer them to potential investors.
He said: “Pension funds are growing and there is a lot of money in the system. Right now, the obvious investment avenue is the stock exchange, but the market only has 16 counters and the listing rate is slow.
“For us, this as an opportunity and our responsibility is to invest our clients’ money in profitable ventures that will generate good returns. Our view is that we have to put active measures to get the opportunities to the people.”
Kumwenda said the company is expected to roll out next month.
Figures from the Reserve Bank of Malawi show that pension funds continue to grow and are expected to hit K2 trillion in 2025.
The figures further show that quarterly pension contributions average K27 billion and pension assets have earned investment income of around K100 billion.
In the year ended December 31 2020, Nico Holdings plc registered a profit after-tax of K18.56 billion, a 26 percent increase from the previous year’s K14.73 billion.
Kumwenda attributed the performance to the resilience by the group’s diversified structure despite a challenging global and local operating environment in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said banking, life insurance and asset management businesses pushed up the profit.
Said Kumwenda: “The bank has given out more loans to its customers, which has pushed up performance of the bank.
“Nico Asset managers and our life insurance company have also taken the performance of the group to higher heights.”
