DISCOVERY REPORTS SIX MONTHS’ STRONG NEW BUSINESS GROWTH
THE Discovery Group said it delivered robust profit and new business growth in the six months to December 31, 2023.
In a trading statement yesterday, the health-care and financial services group said normalised headline earnings (NHE) were expected to increase between 8% and 13% in the interim period, while new business annual premium income increased 28%. Normalised profit from operations was expected to rise by between 10% and 15%. Headline earnings (HE) were expected to be between 3% lower, and 2% higher. The difference between the growth in NHE and HE was attributed mainly to the prior period fair value gain from a UK interest rate swaption. The swaption was realised towards the end of the prior year and so had no profit impact in the reporting period. And consistent with prior reporting, headline earnings were normalised for this. The SA Composite reported “robust earnings and new business growth”. Discovery Health’s new business was boosted by the take-on of the Sasolmed scheme. Discovery Bank’s performance was “excellent, with strong progress across all metrics”. Discovery Life’s individual life business saw strong earnings growth with improving new business margins, while Group Life declined from an exceptional performance the prior period. Discovery Invest’s performance saw revenues and profit benefiting from higher market-levels. Discovery Insure’s profit recovery was constrained by two severe weather events. In the UK Composite, VitalityHealth experienced robust new business growth due to backlogs in the NHS and an increase in demand for private medical insurance. |