Johannesburg - Discovery chief executive Adrian Gore yesterday presented the company results in Sandton.
South Africa’s biggest health insurer reported no growth in first-half profit yesterday, weighed down partly by the cost of setting up a bank.
Read: Discovery posts flat profit
Discovery, which also runs a life insurance business, said normalised headline earnings a share totalled 332 cents in the six months to December compared with 331.4c a year earlier.
Headline earnings a share is a measure that strips out certain one-off items. Shares in the company dropped by 3.56 percent to close the day’s trade at R115.25 on the JSE yesterday.
Discovery is pushing into retail banking with an initial $150 million (R2.3 billion) investment, a move that will pit it against five established banks in a fiercely competitive market.
Established in 1992, the company’s business model is linked to a behaviour tracking programme that rewards its clients for healthy lifestyles, paying for gym memberships or offering cash back on money spent at what it deems to be healthy restaurants.
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