(Bloomberg) — Sanlam Ltd., the largest South Africa-based insurer, said 2014 profit rose after new business volumes grew by 18 percent, assets under management increased and underwriting activities expanded.
Net income climbed to 8.73 billion rand ($738 million) from 8.1 billion rand a year earlier, the Cape Town-based company said in a statement on Thursday. Earnings per share excluding one-time items were little changed at 4.16 rand, matching the median estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The dividend rose 13 percent to 2.25 rand per share.
Sanlam operates in Africa, Europe, the U.K., U.S., India and Malaysia. It has been expanding in African and Asian countries to find new regions that may help boost profit as growth in its home market slows. Sanlam in October bought a 40 percent stake in Enterprise Insurance Company, a general insurance business in Ghana, for 237 million rand. Sanlam has more than 3 billion rand set aside for acquisitions.
“We will continue to focus on effectively implementing our strategy and supporting our employees to embrace the critical enabling factors that will help Sanlam to achieve accelerated growth,” Johan van Zyl, chief executive officer of the insurer, said in an e-mailed statement.
