Suncorp (SUN) shares rise, smashes FY21 result
SUN +7.84%: FY21 was a strong one for Suncorp with all segments bouncing back resulting in a $1,033m profit, a 6% beat to consensus. General insurance saw strong premium growth of 5.5% in Australia and over 9% for the NZ business underpinning the result. Investment returns put the icing on the cake for Suncorp while the banking arm didn’t do too badly either. Net Interest Margins (NIM) expanded 13bps while past due loans have mostly normalised back to pre-COVID levels. With the strong beat, Suncorp was able to lift the 2H dividend to the top end of the payout range, coming in 6c above expectations for a full year dividend of 66c. The capital management doesn’t stop there with a $250m on market buy back also pleasing investors. The result is a strong read through for IAG which we hold in the Income Portfolio. While we think SUN goers up from here, we have a preference for separating out our banking & insurance exposures, something we think SUN should do internally!
