March 18, 2004

By Reuters

Johannesburg - Sage Group moved back into profit last year after the life assurance group ditched its troubled international operations during an aggressive restructuring drive.

Attributable earnings for the 12 months to December last year came in at R74.6 million, the company said yesterday.

This compared with a R239.5 million loss for the nine months to December 2002. Sage changed its year-end from March to December in 2002.

"Signs of a turnaround are evident in improving operating results in the second half of the year compared with the first half," Sage said.

It said individual new business increased by more than 18 percent, and surrenders and lapses also improved towards the end of the year. 

"The past year was, however, a very difficult period for the group," Sage added.

New business sales declined by more than 24 percent overall and a sharp increase in surrenders and lapses for the period as a whole led to a small decline of its life business in-force book.

On the asset management side Sage said that, given the better outlook for global capital markets, shareholders could look forward to further improvements in earnings.

In early trade the shares touched R1.95 before closing 4c higher at R1.94 in thin volume.