Major South African insurer eyes African boom

Momentum is working on a plan to grow full-year profit from its rest-of-Africa business as much 60% by mid-2027 through the insurer’s review and revamp of the unit. 

“If Africa can do R500 million to R600 million of earnings a year steadily and predictably, we’d be very happy,” Chief Executive Officer Jeanette Marais said in an interview Thursday. 

The unit of the Pretoria, South Africa-based insurer generated R238 million in so-called normalized headline earnings in the six months to December, and R376 million for the full year to June.

Momentum’s Africa business spans five countries, including Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Ghana and Lesotho, where the insurer enjoys a 65% market share. 

It has scaled back its footprint in recent years — exiting Nigeria and Kenya. The changes are part of a broader strategy to increase the group’s normalized headline earnings to 7 billion rand for fiscal 2027.

“Part of that review is actually to just get efficiency into the system,” Marais said. Potentially giving the business more in-country capabilities for marketing, distribution, and tailored product development will make it “a master of its own destiny,” she said. 

The plan is still in very early stages, with executives presenting it to the board just this week, Marais said. Its focus will be on lowering the cost of the centralized service center for Africa and lifting Momentum’s market share where it operates to at least top three.

Marais spoke after the insurer said group profit climbed 44% to R3.44 billion in the first half of the 2025 fiscal year. Momentum raised its interim dividend by 42% to R0.85 per share and proposed a R1 billion share buyback to redistribute some excess capital. 

Its shares trade at a “20% to 25% discount to our embedded value,” Marais said. “There’s still great value to be generated.”

The stock surged as much as 6.8% in Johannesburg, heading for its highest close since 7 January.