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.
Follow Fin24 on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.