Santam expects drop in earnings

Johannesburg – Short term insurer Santam [JSE:SNT] expects its headline earnings per share (Heps) in the year to December to drop by between 15% and 20%‚ from the previous comparable period. Earnings per share in the review period are expected to be 25% to 30% lower from a year ago.

The drop in earnings is due to a decrease in underwriting results and an increase in the taxation charges‚ offset by an increase in the investment results.

In the operational update published on December 20 last year‚ the company indicated that the net underwriting margin was below the 5% to 7% medium-term target range‚ negatively affected by the adverse weather conditions in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape in the last quarter of last year and by the extensive fires in St Francis Bay in November.

The annual results are expected on February 27.