South African insurance giant taking over Ireland

OUTsurance is rapidly scaling its Irish insurance business, with it expecting the current financial year to have the largest operational loss before it breaks even over the next four years. 

As the business scales, OUTsurance expects its operating leverage to come to the fore, with monthly losses trending lower from the second half of the current financial year. 

These losses will continue to reduce in line with the business scaling thereafter, with it becoming profitable before 2030. 

This was revealed by the insurance giant in its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2025. 

OUTsurance Ireland was launched in May 2024 and represents a significant organic growth opportunity for the group. 

This is part of a trend within the insurance industry where South African insurers are looking to diversify their income across multiple countries and reduce their risk exposure to a single geography. 

Santam has looked to the UK for diversification, launching its Santam 1918 Syndicate in the London market to begin underwriting insurance in Great Britain. 

OUTsurance has launched a fully-fledged business in Ireland, with its offering proving highly attractive. Gross written premium in Ireland more than quadrupled year-on-year to R349 million (€17 million). 

Its operating loss remains substantial at R276 million (€14 million), with this financial year set to see the worst financial result for the Irish business. 

OUTsurance has also invested heavily in its operations in Australia, through the Youi Group, to diversify its earnings, with this business being highly profitable. 

However, in the six months to 31 December 2025, Youi took a hit on its profit due to adverse weather events, which resulted in its claims ratio surging to 66%. 

OUTsurance warned that due to the elevated frequency and severity of natural events in Australia, earnings over the short term can be volatile. Over the long run, the business should prove to be highly lucrative. 

This is partly why the Irish expansion is important for OUTsurance, with it expected to offset the impact of severe weather events in South Africa and/or Australia, given its significantly different climate. 

Youi’s normalised earnings were almost cut in half by the elevated claims, with it falling by 43% to R679 million. 

Despite its significant investments in Australia and Ireland, OUTsurance remains a fundamentally South African business, with its local operations providing a significant share of its earnings. 

OUTsurance South Africa’s normalised earnings skyrocketed by 68.9% to R1.98 billion year-on-year. As a result, the group’s normalised earnings increased by 12.6% to R2.49 billion. 

The company’s local operations, which are made up of personal insurance and business insurance, grew its gross written premium by 8.2% to R7.1 billion. 

“Underpinned by good operational execution, policy growth was a more prominent contributor to growth than what was observed in the comparative six months,” OUTsurance said. 

The claims ratio improved from 46.3% to 44.8% with both the Personal and Business segments delivering improved outcomes. Retained natural peril claims expressed as a percentage of net earned premium increased marginally from 3.4% to 4.2%.

OUTsurance South Africa also received a boost from investment income, which surged by 27.7% on the back of the JSE’s strong performance. 

OUTsurance SA’s normalised operating profit increased to R2.34 billion, which is a 78.2% increase from the comparative period. 

A particular highlight for the company was the large improvement in the operating profit of OUTsurance Business Brokers, which delivered a pleasing growth and profitability performance.

“The financial performance for the six months under review was marked by a strong financial performance in South Africa and a volatile weather period in Australia, which masked an otherwise strong organic growth performance,” the company said. 

OUTsurance declared a R1.20 per share ordinary interim dividend, an increase of 36.2% year-on-year. 

The insurer also declared a special dividend per share of 30 cents following RMI Treasury Company’s sale of its 14.4% stake in Entersekt.