UPDATE 1-South African insurer Discovery posts 15% rise in annual profit

(Adds details on results)

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 19 (Reuters) – South African insurer Discovery Ltd reported a 15% increase in full year profit on Thursday, benefiting from strong earnings from its established operations and new business growth.

Its normalised headline earnings, which Discovery considers a more accurate measure of its profit and which also excludes exceptional items, rose to 7.3 billion rand ($418 million) in the year ended June 30, up from 6.4 billion rand recorded a year earlier.

Normalised profit from operations rose by 17% to 11.6 billion rand with strong contributions from Discovery South Africa and Vitality Global, while core new business annualised premium income increased by 18% to 26.7 billion rand.

The company, which has a market share of 57.9% in health insurance, said Discovery Bank exceeded expectations, with excellent progress across all metrics.

The bank narrowed its loss by 41% to 454 million rand, as the acquisition of quality clients continued to accelerate, resulting in strong revenue growth, it said.

Discovery declared a final dividend of 152 cents per share. ($1 = 17.4639 rand) (Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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