* Declares 850 cent dividend per share
* Investment returns hurt earnings
* Share up over 4 pct
(Adds details)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Shares of Santam
jumped over 4 percent after the South African insurer
declared a special dividend and investors shrugged off an
expected percent drop in full-year profit.
Santam, South Africa’s largest property and casualty
insurer, said it would pay an 850 cents dividend per share
because its solvency ratio, at 48 percent, was above its
long-term target of 35 to 45 percent.
Santam, which is majority owned by life insurer Sanlam
, also announced a 355 cents per share final dividend
for the year to end-December, from 325 cents in the previous
period.
The company said full-year diluted headline earnings per
share totalled 1,202 cents from 1,343 cents a year earlier.
The results were widely expected after Santam flagged this
month it saw headline EPS to fall by as much as 15 percent.
Headline EPS, the main profit measure in South Africa, excludes
certain one-time items.
Net insurance premium revenue totalled 14.65 billion rand,
an 8 percent increase from a year earlier.
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