Sanlam Group CEO, Dr Johan van Zyl
The Sanlam Group today released its results for the 10 months ended 31 October 2011, reporting increased new life insurance business volumes among other highlights.
Highlights
· New life insurance business volumes up 23% compared to the same period in 2010
· Value of new life business (before the impact of STC release) is some 20% up on 2010
· Net fund inflows of R19bn
· Growth of 10% in net result from financial services
Despite a challenging environment, Sanlam Personal Finance recorded an 18% increase in new life business sales, supported by particularly strong growth in Glacier single premium business and a 14% increase in South African middle-income market sales. Sanlam Emerging Markets reported a 9% growth in its new business volumes. Additionally, Sanlam Employee Benefits more than doubled its contribution to new business.
The 10% growth in net result from financial services was driven by the solid performance of Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Employee Benefits and Santam.
Said Sanlam Group CEO, Dr Johan van Zyl: “We have continued to execute the Group’s strategy and maintained our focus on the quality of new business in line with our objective to focus on profitable business instead of simply chasing market share.”
Van Zyl said the Group remained well capitalised with discretionary capital as at the end of October being broadly in line with the R3, 2 billion reported as at the end of June 2011. Since June, more than R700 million has been added to the discretionary capital portfolio through the disposal of non-strategic investments, including the recent sale of a major part of the Group’s holding in Vukile Property Fund.
At the same time, some R600 million of discretionary capital was utilised in respect of strategic acquisitions, including the acquisition of three million Santam shares and Sanlam Private Investments’ acquisition of majority stakes in Merchant Securities in the United Kingdom and Summit Trust in Switzerland. Of the remaining discretionary capital, some R2 billion has been earmarked for the Shriram Capital acquisition referred to in the 2011 interim results announcement.
Sanlam’s major exposure remains to the South African economy and investment market. The SA market is not shielded from international events, including the risk of sovereign default in Europe, which continues to weigh heavily on sentiment and investment markets in general. These conditions set the stage for a challenging operating environment and consequently uncertainty on the results to be achieved for the remainder of the year, the Group said.
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