Insurance and financial services group Momentum Metropolitan Holdings has opted to hold on to its final dividend, with full-year profits more than halving after Covid-19 battered global markets and prompted a rise in claims provisions.
The group adjusts the profit measure for the effect of treasury shares — an accounting mismatch that is peculiar to financial institutions that invest in their own securities on behalf of clients. The group said it was unlikely to meet its earnings target for 2021 of normalised headline earnings of between R3.6bn and R4bn, and the pandemic is expected to weigh on new business volumes.