OUTsurance’s South African juggernaut marches on

OUTsurance expects its headline earnings per share to rise by between 21% and 26% for the financial year ended 30 June 2026. 

This is strong growth off a revenue base of R37.1 billion and headline earnings of R4.59 billion in 2025. At current growth rates, OUTsurance is expected to double these figures in four years. 

The insurance giant revealed its expectations for the 2026 financial year in a trading statement released on the JSE news service. 

It said that the group delivered a strong operational and financial performance for the year, with its South African business having a particularly standout year. 

OUTsurance’s core South African business, excluding life insurance, expects its normalised earnings to surge by over 40% from R2.9 billion in 2025. 

“Stand-out earnings growth delivered by the South African property and casualty business was due to higher underwriting margins,” OUTsurance said. 

This was mainly due to lower claims and improved cost-to-income ratios. OUTsurance also noted a significant reduction in share-based payments expense due to a new Conditional Share Plan. 

OUTsurance’s other businesses did not fare as well in the past financial year. Its Australian business, Youi, expects normalised earnings to fall by 4% to 10%. 

It said this fall was driven by higher natural peril losses, which affected the first-half results in Australia. 

Another area of concern for OUTsurance is its Life business, which expects normalised earnings to fall by 17% to 23%. 

This is despite what OUTsurance described as a strong operational performance with excellent new business growth and improved cost efficiency.

“Earnings growth was impacted by the high base in the prior financial year, which benefited from the favourable net impact of yield movement on profit,” it said. 

The yield movements on profit refer to the investment returns of the premiums held by OUTsurance. This can be extremely lucrative for insurers when market conditions improve. 

OUTsurance’s Ireland business continued to grow strongly in the car and home insurance market. Crucially, its operational loss profile is beginning to decline. 

The insurer said it has passed peak loss in its Irish business, with the business heading towards breakeven after substantial investment in growth initiatives. 

At a group level, gross written premium increased by 15.7%, and net earned premium increased by 18.7%. 

Ultimately, the company expects strong earnings growth, with normalised earnings per share set to rise by 15% to 21%. OUTsurance considers this the business’ key financial metric. 

Headline earnings per share are set to rise by 21% to 26%, and earnings per share by 16% to 22%. Outsurance will release its full results on 10 September.