Sanlam Shareholders Get Dividends

September 7 - Sanlam shareholders received a dividend payout, despite poor industry conditions.

The assurer was able to pay 98c in 2008, and the Chief Executive Officer of the group, Dr. Johan van Zyl said that he hopes next year's figures will be better.

"I think one can certainly look towards a similar and hopefully a bit better dividend for next year," he said.

Rival insurance groups such as Old Mutual were unable to pay out dividends this year.

Sanlam did better than Old Mutual last year, showing a reduction in embedded value of only 1.9% for example, in comparison to the 11% reported by Old Mutual.

"I think, operationally, the business has kept up very well in tough times, in spite of a performance that isn't really where we would like to be at Santam" said Dr. van Zyl, who said that since he began his career he has never come up against such difficult conditions.

"From the Sanlam side, things have really gone well," explained the CEO. "We've held our own, we haven't gone backwards. Operationally, we're as good a business as any time in the past ten years and with the markets having done their little bit, we've done pretty well."

Sanlam did particularly well in developing markets, expanding into seven African countries, as well as India where business targets the bottom end of the market.

"This is where there's still scope to grow," explained Dr. van Zyl. "We've done particularly well in South Africa in that market."