JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African health insurer Discovery Ltd reported a 30% increase in full-year profit on Thursday, as it achieved strong growth across its operations.
Its normalised headline earnings, a profit measure, rose to 9.8 billion rand ($559.75 million) in the year ended June 30, up from 7.5 billion rand recorded a year earlier.
Discovery’s main business unit Discovery South Africa, which includes insurance and banking, delivered 22% growth in normalised profit from operations. Customer numbers at its retail banking business rose by 30%, with loans and deposits up 39% and 26%, respectively, resulting in strong revenue growth.
The bank delivered its first profit during the second half of the financial year, ahead of plan, Discovery said.
Discovery declared a final dividend of 201 cents per share.
($1 = 17.5078 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Joe Bavier and Jane Merriman)
