Liberty Life to spend R10m to improve image
July 2, 2004
By Sherilee Bridge
Johannesburg - Liberty Life, the country`s third-largest insurer, would spend R10 million this year boosting its image and trying to improve customer satisfaction levels, Myles Ruck, the chief executive, said yesterday.
Ruck, who was appointed following Roy Anderson`s retirement last year, said he had made it his mission to improve the company`s attitude.
Long criticised for being arrogant, Liberty was now `taking a humbler` approach, Ruck said.
According to the latest available figures from the Financial Services Board`s long-term insurance fifth annual report, Liberty had a market share of 7.95 percent in 2002.
PricewaterhouseCoopers` study into local insurance emerging trends and strategic issues, released last month, shows that 27 of the industry`s managing directors and senior executives rank Liberty third for its customer relationships. The peer review also ranked Liberty third for marketing strategies.
Despite this, Ruck said there was room for improvement.
Liberty Group shares dipped 99c after the company said it expected earnings to be between 10 percent and 30 percent higher than a year ago but warned that corporate new business would fall in the first half of this year.
But yesterday Liberty Group added 80c to closed at R51.80, in line with the insurance sector`s 0.12 percent increase.
Liberty`s trading statement, published on Tuesday, brings to four the number of firms in the insurance sector that have indicated booming trade. SA Eagle, Santam and Mutual & Federal have issued similar upbeat updates.
Headline earnings a share should be between R1.43 and R1.69 against R1.30 recorded for the six months to June last year, Liberty said. It said total new business premiums were estimated to have increased by 15 percent and individual new business premiums continued to grow at a reasonable rate.
Merrill Lynch noted in a June research report that Liberty continued to do well at the upper end of the market, where most players are struggling.
It said that with the larger life companies having completed their trading updates, there was no doubt that generally the lower-income market was the one that was experiencing the best growth.
Metropolitan`s ordinary new recurring local business has grown by over 30 percent and Merrill Lynch estimated at least 20 percent growth in Old Mutual`s group schemes business.
Merrill Lynch said that while Liberty now provided the best value of the life companies, it needed to address its shortcomings in the middle-income market space, where it had a small presence. Growth in the mass market was expected in the medium to longer term.
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
