South African financial-services firm Sanlam said on Thursday its full-year normalised headline earnings fell 22% due to a slowdown in equity markets in 2007 and compared with high returns in 2006.
It also warned of a tough year ahead as interest rates, higher inflation, a power-supply crunch at home and volatility in international financial markets take their toll.
”It is unlikely that Sanlam as a group would not be impacted by the current challenges in the investment environment,” it said.
Sanlam, one of the biggest asset managers in South Africa, said normalised headline earnings were R5,199-billion, compared with R6,633-billion the previous year.
Normalised headline earnings per share — the key measure of profit in South Africa, which strips out capital, non-trading and certain extraordinary items — fell 19% to 228,7 cents from 282 cents.
Year core earnings per share, which Sanlam calculates by adding the net result from financial services to net investment income, rose 27% to 182,4 cents.
Sanlam warned last month its year headline earnings per share would be 25% to 30% lower than 2006, but said core EPS would be up between 25% and 30%. — Reuters