South African tycoon Adrian Gore to bag $7.5 million dividend as Discovery profit soars

South African businessman Adrian Gore, CEO and co-founder of Discovery, is set to receive about $7.5 million in a final dividend from his stake in the Johannesburg-listed financial services group after Discovery reported a 38.3 percent increase in annual profit.

Gore, 62, who co-founded Discovery with Barry Swartzberg in 1992, owns a 6.48 percent stake in the company, representing 44,213,070 shares. Based on that holding, he is due to receive R120.7 million ($7.56 million) in the final dividend on Oct. 19, 2026. That will take his total dividend income from Discovery for the financial year to R169.8 million ($10.64 million).

Discovery hikes dividend on earnings surge

This follows the board’s declaration of a final gross cash dividend of R2.73 ($0.17) per ordinary share, an increase of 35.8 percent from R2.01 ($0.11) a year earlier. Including the interim dividend of R1.11 ($0.07) per share, Discovery’s total ordinary dividend for the year rises to R3.84 ($0.23) per share.

The higher payout follows a stronger financial year for Discovery, which reported a profit of R13.22 billion ($827.92 million) for the year ended June 30, 2026. That was up 38.3 percent from R9.56 billion ($544.81 million) a year earlier, with the South African businesses and the group’s global Vitality operations contributing to the increase.

Discovery South Africa remained the group’s biggest contributor to earnings. Normalised profit from operations rose 16 percent to R13.87 billion ($867.95 million), while new business annualised premium income increased 8 percent to R19.53 billion. The group said growth across its health, protection, wealth and banking businesses helped support the result.

Discovery posts higher divisional operating profits

Discovery Health reported a 9 percent increase in normalised operating profit to R4.63 billion ($288.8 million). New business annualised premium income rose 10 percent to R10.5 billion ($655.14 million), helped by growth in non-scheme revenue and improved cost efficiency.

Discovery Life’s normalised operating profit increased 6 percent to R5.87 billion ($366.48 million). The business continued to generate cash despite an expected R160 million ($9.99 million) reduction in insurance finance income and expense, as well as higher costs linked to policy alteration experience and changes in estimates.

Discovery Invest also reported higher earnings, with normalised operating profit rising 9 percent to R2.16 billion ($134.94 million), helped by growth in assets, gains in capital markets and positive net flows. Discovery Insure followed with a 24 percent increase in normalised operating profit to R1.01 billion ($63.12 million), as wider margins, stronger underwriting and tighter claims management improved its results.