Liberty posts 3% fall in FY earnings

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Liberty Holdings Ltd, South Africa's fourth-largest insurer by market value, reported a 3 percent decline in full-year profit on Thursday, reflecting a contraction in earnings from its shareholder investment portfolio.

The insurer, majority owned by Africa's biggest lender Standard Bank, said BEE normalised headline earnings per share fell to 1,403.3 cents for the year ended December, from 1,439.6 cents the previous year.

BEE normalised headline earnings, which exclude certain one-time items and take into account the impact of its black shareholder scheme, is Liberty's main performance measure.

Earnings by LibFin Investments, or its shareholder investment portfolio, fell by 26 percent.

Liberty said its asset management division, Stanlib, suffered from the negative sentiment caused by the failure of African Bank, which saw net withdrawals of 13.7 million rand from various money market funds.

The company raised its total dividend to 634 cents per share from 581 cents in the previous year.

Liberty's shares have gained 11.4 percent so far this year, compared with a 7 percent rise in Johannesburg's All-Share index.

($1 = 11.4575 rand)