(Reuters) – OUTsurance Group , South Africa’s third-largest insurer by value, boosted its dividend payment by almost 50% on Tuesday after reporting full-year profit rose by a fifth, driven by growth in new business.
Its normalised earnings per share (NEPS) for the year ended June 30 rose to 3.54 billion rand ($201.1 million) from 2.94 billion rand previously.
The company, which specialises in property and casualty insurance, recorded a 20.5% rise in gross written premiums at its Australian and South African operations.
The South African business’ earnings grew by 17.4% compared to the previous year, on the back of improved claims ratios.
Its Youi unit in Australia reported a 12.8% increase in normalised earnings despite experiencing severe weather conditions which led to high natural disaster claims.
The group’s claims ratio increased from 54.3% to 56.8%, mainly due to the Australian claims.
OUTsurance declared a final dividend of 113.2 cents per share and a special dividend of 40 cents per share, bringing the final payout for the year to 214.4 cents per share, an increase of 49.6% from last year.
Meanwhile, OUTsurance Ireland, which launched in May 2024, incurred 180 million rand in start-up losses for the year.
“We are flagging a five year timeline on Ireland breaking even, similar to what we did with Australia, because it takes time to build a trusted brand,” OUTsurance Chief Executive Officer Marthinus Visser said in a conference call. ($1 = 17.6009 rand)
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; editing by Jason Neely and Keith Weir)
