Asset management company Vunani Limited says it will continue looking at new acquisitions and synergies as a strategy to achieve growth, Group CEO, Butana Khoza, said in a media interview after the company released impressive interim results for the period ending 31 August 2021 recently.
Khoza was interviewed by South Africa’s Business Day newspaper after the company had a bumper first half of 2021. The financial services group has reported a 19 percent rise in revenue due to fees earned from its advisory services, asset administration and insurance premiums.
The company’s synergies and recent acquisitions are some of the major contributors to its improved results. Vunani has operations in South Africa, Zimbabwe, eSwatini and Botswana. The JSE-listed financial services group also owns 60 percent of Vunani Fund Managers Botswana, with the remaining 40 percent held by management and strategic equity partners.
Vunani Fund Managers Botswana is a multi-specialist asset manager with assets under management (AUM) of over P7 billion. Vunani has four retail unit trusts, namely Vunani Money Market Fund, Vunani Income Fund, Vunani Managed Prudential Fund and Vunani Equity Fund.
It also manages equity, fixed interest and global assets on behalf of institutional clients. With regards to the Group performance, Vunani reported that it lifted headline earnings per share by 10 percent to 21.7 cents in the six months to August 31 and declared an interim dividend of 6.5 cents per share.
Vunani’s performance for the six months improved compared with the prior period. The group generated total comprehensive income for the period of R40.4 million versus R32.3 million at the same time in the prior year. Attributable profit increased to R34.9 million from R31.6 million. The Group’s reporting segments include fund management, asset administration, insurance, investment banking (advisory services and institutional securities broking) and private equity, which has been included under discontinued operations.
Revenue from continuing operations was up 19 percent to R321.5 million. Revenue increased due to the increase in AUM and the assets under administration for the fund management and asset administration segments as well as the insurance segment. Vunani acquired 39 percent of Medscheme Holdings through Oracle Insure on May 31. The acquisition was in line with the group’s strategy to expand its footprint in the health insurance services business in eSwatini.
Directors said despite the impact of COVID-19 on the global and local economy, the first six months of the year had seen an improvement in the performance when compared to the prior period. “The group believes that it is in a position to benefit from the improved growth prospects of the local economy driven by improved performance and profitability in the operating businesses,” they said
The group will continue to focus on improving synergies in its operating businesses as a key growth strategy. Vunani will also continue to look at acquisitions that were in line with creating a diversified financial services business.
