Discovery Holdings Annual Profit Rises 42% as Medical Insurer Boosts Sales
Discovery Holdings Ltd., which owns South Africa’s largest medical-insurance administrator, said fiscal full-year profit rose 42 percent after it boosted sales.
Net income for the fiscal year to June 30 climbed to 1.72 billion rand ($236 million) from 1.21 billion rand a year earlier the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement today. Sales advanced 52 percent to 7.86 billion rand.
In the past 12 months, as South Africa recovered from its first recession in 17 years, local companies including pharmaceutical business Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. have started to expand again and become acquisitive. In May, Discovery agreed to pay 138 million pounds ($213 million) in cash for the health-care unit of Standard Life Plc. Last month, it concluded a deal to buy a 20 percent stake in Ping An Insurance Group Co., China’s second-largest insurer, for 190 million yuan ($28 million).
Discovery is the third-best performing stock on the five- member FTSE/JSE Life Assurance Index this year through yesterday’s closing price, having returned 11 percent, after Metropolitan Holdings Ltd. and Old Mutual Plc.
To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at rbonorchis@bloomberg.net
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