The insurance group says there has also been a data breach following a cyber attack on one of its subsidiaries.
Momentum Metropolitan says it will report a sharp decline in full-year earnings due to tough operating conditions and after it raised additional reserves to cover potential Covid-19 claims.
In a trading statement, the insurance group said although investment markets recovered in the final quarter of its financial year after a big decline in March, this wasn’t enough to offset the impact of the virus on its retail and corporate life insurance operations. The impact of the pandemic on its life operations, as well as claims on non-life insurance business in Guardrisk, was expected to shave R1.3 billion from pre-tax earnings for the year to end-June. On top of that, it said earnings would also be impacted by a R500 million impairment of owner-occupied property due to a decline in Sandton property valuations, as well as a R200 million write-off to goodwill of its non-life insurance operations.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the year are expected to be 75-95% lower than the 153c reported last year, while headline EPS are likely to come in 45-65% lower than the 168c previously reported.
Separately, the group said there had been a data breach last Thursday following a cyber attack on one of its subsidiaries. It said hackers had unlawfully accessed a limited portion of data at the subsidiary before it activated its IT security incident plan. Its IT teams had been working non-stop to ensure that service to clients remained unaffected and the authorities had been alerted, with investigations ongoing, it said.
Based on the investigation to date, the Group confirms that information accessed does not contain any client or member data,” the company said. “Information accessed contains administrative and financial data that is not expected to prejudice any stakeholders of the Group.”
Main Image: Critical Hit