Clientele earnings up 31%

As a result‚ diluted headline earnings per share increased by 31% to 44.82 cents‚ up from 34.15 cents‚ and the annualised return on average shareholders interests amounted to 72% compared with 64% for the same period last year.

"Insurance premium revenue for the period has been tempered by the conscious reining in of production‚ which was offset by the improvement in withdrawal experience as a result of the focus on quality and is up by 2% from R598.5m to R608.9m‚" Clientele said.

Net insurance benefits and claims of R172.1m increased by 50% from R114.5m for the same period last year. The majority of the increase was in respect of policyholder cash-back payments which had now become due as well as policyholders benefit payments for unitised endowment policies‚ many of which have now been held for 10 years or more.

"Both these items have an impact on the increase in policyholder liabilities under insurance contracts. The increase in policyholder liabilities under insurance contracts amounted to R17.9m, down from 2011's R22.7m.

Over the reporting period investments achieved a return of 13%‚ compared with a return of 5% for the similar period last year. A substantial portion of investment returns are attributable to policyholders which has a direct impact on the increase in policyholder liabilities under insurance contracts.