By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK, MARCH 10 — Sanlam has reported excellent financial results for the year ending December 31, 2022, despite a challenging operating environment. The year was marked by diverse and complex events, including significant investment market volatility, surging inflation and energy prices, supply chain disruptions, catastrophic flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and hardship for consumers, caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Group’s financial strength, prudent financial management, diversity, and strong competitive positioning across all key product lines and market segments enabled Sanlam to deliver value to clients and shareholders over the period. During 2022, the Group recorded growth of 8% in its key earnings metric, net results from financial services, with dividend growth of 8% and adjusted Return on Group Equity Value (RoGEV) of 15.1%, above the business’ hurdle rate of 14.3%.
Sanlam sharpened its focus on the impact it has on the communities where it operates. This includes financial inclusion and education, ensuring the organization’s capital resources are invested for the good of the African continent and its people. The Group committed a further R250 million to invest in job creation in South Africa and increased support for the Ennajah Foundation in Morocco.
Sanlam CEO, Mr. Paul Hanratty, said that the company was delighted with the Group’s performance, the strength with which it emerged from this period of extreme turbulence, and the strategic platform developed for future growth. Despite external challenges, Sanlam has successfully focused on the delivery of its new ambitious strategy, adopted in 2020. This will create a better path for future growth for the company.
Sanlam continues to make progress in implementing the next phase of its strategy. The capital was redeployed from the UK to strengthen South African businesses through a series of investments in South Africa. Sanlam will considerably expand and diversify its Sanlam Pan Africa portfolio, with cost, capital, and revenue synergies through the creation of a joint venture (JV) with Allianz SE.
Net results from financial services reached a new historic high, exceeding R10 billion for the first time. The excellent performance of the life insurance, investment management and credit and structuring operations contributed to the Group’s performance. New business volumes in life insurance operations were 5% lower than in 2021, excluding the disposed UK businesses, but remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
Group Equity Value (GEV) amounted to R141 billion or 6,380 cents per share on December 31, 2022, with an adjusted RoGEV of 15.1% for the year. The Group declared a dividend of 360 cents per share. The capital and solvency position of the Group and its main operating entities remained strong and within target ranges on December 31, 2022.
Looking forward, Sanlam expects the consumer environment to remain challenging, but they expect some recovery in the global economic environment later in 2023. Sanlam remains focused on successfully integrating completed transactions while ensuring outstanding transactions progress smoothly through their respective approval processes. Approvals for the Allianz JV remain on track, and the Group expects implementation around mid-2023. The Afrocentric, BrightRock and Capital Legacy transactions are also expected to close around this time. The Absa and Alexforbes transactions completed in 2022 and 2023 are expected to contribute positively to the Group’s earnings in 2023. – Namibia Daily News
