Alexander Forbes Group Holdings said yesterday it anticipates “pleasing growth” for the six months to September from its continuing operations.
The financial services group said in a trading statement that profit from operations before non-trading and capital items was expected to be between R372 million and R407m, or 5% to 15% higher than the R354m reported for the six months ended 30 September 2022.
Basic earnings from continuing operations also benefited from other income earned on support services provided to businesses disposed, a reduction in non-trading and capital items owing to lower amortisation of intangible assets, as well as an improved result from their professional indemnity insurance cell and an increase in investment income driven by higher interest rates.
The increase in earnings was also attributed to the base effects from the prior year, specifically by the performance of discontinued operations.
In the prior period the financial performance of the discontinued operations included losses incurred by Alexander Forbes Life due to reserving requirements resulting from ongoing clean-up and finalisation of claims as part of the transaction implementation.
Headline earnings per share were expected to be 85% to 105% higher, while HEPS from continuing operations was expected to be 55% to 75% higher.
BUSINESS REPORT