Johannesburg - South Africa's second-biggest insurer Sanlam
[JSE:SLM] said on Wednesday normalised headline earnings per share were slightly higher in the 10 months to end-October, as strong net fund inflows offset volatile financial markets.
Sanlam also said it would sell its 68.7% interest in MiWay to Santam
[JSE:SNT] for R240m.
Sanlam owns a controlling stake in Santam, which focuses on short-term insurance.
One of the South Africa's top fund managers, Sanlam said volatile financial markets conditions were likely to affect full-year results.
"The strong market performance in the second half of the 2009 financial year, in particular, may not be repeated in 2010, which will affect the full-year growth in earnings," the company said.
Sanlam said new business volumes were up 4% during the period, while overall net inflows of R17.2bn were substantially better than the R13.5bn achieved in the first 10 months of 2009.
Shares in Sanlam rose 1.39% to R26.97 in Wednesday afternoon trade, outpacing a flat JSE All-share index.