Sanlam earnings up 27% in six months to June

Sanlam has seen earnings rise by 27% in the first six months of this year with strong performances from its different life assurance and short-term insurance divisions. Image: Master Isolated Free Digital Photos

No dividend was declared as it is company policy to pay an annual divided because of its large shareholder base.

The group described its performance over the period as commendable‚ with all clusters achieving strong growth in operating earnings.

All businesses achieved growth of more than 20%‚ with Santam's contribution more than doubling. The return on group equity value amounted to 18%‚ exceeding the targeted 12.2%.

The group's largest exposure remained the South African market‚ where a supportive investment market performance countered the effect of a strained local economy. Despite an initial emerging markets sell-off‚ the South African equity market remained buoyant and followed global markets higher‚ the group said.

Fee-based earnings in Sanlam Investments and Sanlam Personal Finance benefited from the higher average level of assets under management‚ with particularly robust growth in investment management and administration profits. This was augmented by favourable underwriting conditions in both the life assurance and short-term insurance operations.

Identified growth markets in Africa‚ India and South-east Asia made a strong contribution to the group's results for the period‚ notwithstanding slower economic growth also being experienced in a number of those areas.

Organic growth of 40% was augmented by an earnings contribution of R130m‚ up from R33m in interim 2013.

New business volumes increased 8% to R82bn with discretionary capital of R3.3bn at end-June from R4bn at the beginning of the year.

Source: BDPro via I-Net Bridge