New era for Alexforbes begins with a bang

South African financial services provider Alexforbes continues to perform strongly, with its headline earnings rising by 17% and its assets surging to R696 billion. 

This was revealed by the company in its interim results for the six months ended 30 September, which are the first set released under its new operating model, which focuses on financial advice. 

The strategy hinges on Alexforbes’ ability to gain prominence amongst clients, independent financial advisors, and the broader investment community. 

It is based on a new group structure, which is made up of four core business units – corporate, investments, retail, and growth markets. 

The last business unit is focused on expanding the reach of Alexforbes’ offering, including across Africa. This indicates that the business is eyeing substantial expansion in the future. 

This more simplified operating structure has borne fruit for the company in the past six months, with Alexforbes reporting strong growth across the board. 

The company’s operating income rose 9% to R2.3 billion, while headline earnings per share surged by 17% to 33.2 cents. 

This was largely on the back of strong growth in the company’s assets under management and administration, which rose 23% to R696 billion. 

Alexforbes said this was driven by strong investment performance, inflationary increases within its retirement client base, and strong customer retention. 

Crucially, this growth shows no signs of slowing, with Alexforbes reporting R28.4 billion in new institutional business flows for the period and new retail flows of R15.6 billion, which is up 33%. 

This strong performance enabled the company to declare an interim cash dividend of 24 cents per share, up 9% on the same period last year. 

Alexforbes said its position as an investment destination is gaining traction amongst clients, independent financial advisors and the broader investment community. 

“We have focused on the implementation of our new operating model, which I believe marks an inflection point in our journey,” CEO Dawie de Villiers said. 

“Our core business units are now strategically positioned to capture growth opportunities across their market segments.” 

De Villiers previously revealed that the company is now providing financial advice to over one million members across its base. 

The company reported a slowdown in the volume and value of early two-pot retirement claims by its members. It said R1.5 billion was withdrawn in the six-month period to end September 2025, compared to R2.5 billion in the same period last year.