Business Opinion

Momentum breaks profit record

Luke Fraser

 ·17 Sep 2025

Momentum Group has reached record earnings levels in South Africa, with the group set to buy back a further R1 billion in shares. 

For the financial year ended 30 June 2025, the group delivered normalised headline earnings of R6.26 billion, up 46% from the prior financial year, which was already a record year. 

Normalised earnings show a company’s earnings that omit the effects of nonrecurring charges or gains.

Regarding more standard profit metrics, the group’s basic earnings grew by 55% to R6 billion, while its basic headline earnings grew by 48% to R6 billion. 

The group’s operating profit increased by 52% from R3.6 billion to R5.48 billion.

The group said the strong earnings growth is due to its diversified portfolio and disciplined execution of its impact strategy. 

Sold operational performance across its business units underpinned the group’s results with notable contributions from: 

• Annuity profits in Momentum Investments, 
• Improved new business profitability in Metropolitan Life, 
• Higher earnings from the  group risk business in Momentum Corporate,
• A significantly improved underwriting result in Momentum Insure and
• Strong underwriting performance in Guardrisk.

Positive actuarial assumption changes and investment market returns further supported earnings. 

“I am proud of the significant progress we made on our strategic objectives to invest aggressively in advice to drive growth, and to harness the synergies of collaboration in our federated operating model,” said CEO Jeanette Marais. 

“We are undisputedly the market leader in independent financial adviser distribution, and through collaboration between businesses, we have created new solutions for our clients that are unique in the employee benefits and estate planning space.” 

The group also completed a massive systems migration involving Momentum Retail, Metropolitan and Africa, which should save the group over R100 million per year. 

Shareholder returns 

Given the group’s strong capital and liquidity position, the board has approved a further R1 billion share buyback of the group’s ordinary shares. 

The group said that the decision is underpinned by the prevailing discount to embedded value. This will add to the R2 billion in share buybacks that the group initiated over the last year. 

Moreover, the group declared a final dividend of 90 cents per ordinary share, bringing the total dividend for the financial year to 175 cents per ordinary share. 

Marias was encouraged by the record earnings delivered by the group despite the challenging economic environment facing South Africa. 

“Although the pressure on our clients’ disposable income is expected to continue, affecting new business volumes, which places pressure on margins, our Impact strategy strongly anchors our disciplined execution, operational excellence, and robust financial position. 

“We remain focused on our purpose of building and protecting our clients’ financial dreams, while unlocking further growth opportunities across our suite of empowered businesses.” 

The group believes that their ambitious impact strategy targets for FY27 are achievable, while continuing to deliver sustainable value to shareholders.