Financial services group Alexander Forbes has announced results for the six months ending 30 September 2003.
Chief executive Rael Gordon said overall group profits had increased by 3% when measured in the South African Rand. He said currency fluctuations when converting Sterling to the Rand, and a substantial decrease in the contributions from associates had contributed to a 17% decrease in core earnings to 80.4 cents per share.
Trading profit for the group's African operations, primarily based in South Africa, increased by 7% to 2.2bn Rand. It said risk services had benefited from good insurance market conditions, with an increase in trading profit to R138m.
The trading profits for the groups international division remained much the same as last year, with trading profits of £17.2m, said the company. The UK risk services businesses produced an overall trading profit of £10.4m, a 5% increase on the comparable period in 2002.
It said that UK investment solutions business had incurred small start-up trading losses. Regulatory approval had been delayed but was now in place with portfolios being actively marketed.
"Provided currency levels remain stable and given current trading conditions, we expect an improved second half performance with earnings for the full year broadly in line with the previous financial year," said Gordon.
