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Johannesburg - Financial services and insurance group Sanlam [JSE:SLM] reported a 16% rise in full-year profit, helped by a recovery in equity markets and strong underwriting, and said it was looking to spend up to $582 million on strategic investments.
South Africa's second-largest life insurer by market value said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 252.4 cents in the year to end-December compared with 218.4 cents a year earlier.
The volume of its new business rose 3% to R106bn.
South African insurers were hit hard by the 2009 recession that cut a million jobs and forced many customers to lapse on their insurance payments. The global economic crisis also hit the values of their equity portfolios.
Insurers have since mounted a slow recovery. Sanlam said underwriting profit rose 157% for the year. The company said it expected "modest" growth in 2011, given the outlook for financial services.
The company said it had allocated R4bn for discretionary capital.
"A number of strategic investment opportunities have been identified and are being pursued, which, if successful, could utilise a major portion of this capital pool," Sanlam said in a statement.
Shares of Sanlam have fallen 1.5% so far this year, underperforming a 7.3% rise in Johannesburg's index of life assurance companies
South Africa's second-largest life insurer by market value said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 252.4 cents in the year to end-December compared with 218.4 cents a year earlier.
The volume of its new business rose 3% to R106bn.
South African insurers were hit hard by the 2009 recession that cut a million jobs and forced many customers to lapse on their insurance payments. The global economic crisis also hit the values of their equity portfolios.
Insurers have since mounted a slow recovery. Sanlam said underwriting profit rose 157% for the year. The company said it expected "modest" growth in 2011, given the outlook for financial services.
The company said it had allocated R4bn for discretionary capital.
"A number of strategic investment opportunities have been identified and are being pursued, which, if successful, could utilise a major portion of this capital pool," Sanlam said in a statement.
Shares of Sanlam have fallen 1.5% so far this year, underperforming a 7.3% rise in Johannesburg's index of life assurance companies
