Shares of Sanlam, one of Africa’s largest insurance groups, have recovered part of their losses after a double-digit decline earlier this year, lifting the value of Group Finance Director Abigail Mukhuba’s stake back above $2.5 million.

Mukhuba owns 479,423 Sanlam shares. At the start of the year, the holding was worth about $2.8 million and was nearing the $3 million mark. A decline of more than 15 percent in Sanlam’s share price later reduced its value to about $2.4 million. The shares have since recovered. Sanlam’s stock has gained about 4.5 percent since June 3, taking the value of Mukhuba’s holding to roughly R41 million ($2.56 million).

The recovery puts the value of Mukhuba’s Sanlam shares above $2.5 million again and adds to the compensation she received from the company in 2025. According to Sanlam’s remuneration disclosure, Mukhuba received total remuneration of R26 million ($1.6 million) last year, up from R22.1 million ($1.36 million) in 2024.

Mukhuba’s 2025 pay

Much of the increase came from higher guaranteed pay and long-term incentives. Mukhuba’s guaranteed package rose to R6.85 million ($422,400) in 2025 from R6.48 million ($400,000) a year earlier. The package included R6.5 million ($401,000) in salary and R350,000 ($22,000) in company contributions.

She also received an annual incentive of R8.5 million ($524,000). Of that amount, R5.95 million ($367,000) was paid in cash and R2.55 million ($158,000) was awarded in deferred shares. The largest component of her 2025 remuneration was the R10.66 million ($657,200) attributable value of her long-term incentives.

Sanlam’s business grows

Mukhuba’s pay came as Sanlam reported higher business volumes and stronger client cash flows in 2025, although some of its main profit measures fell from the previous year. Net result from financial services increased 3 percent to R15.94 billion ($982 million), from R15.44 billion ($952 million) in 2024. On a normalized basis, the increase was 20 percent.

Total new business volumes rose 18 percent to R495.9 billion ($30.58 billion), from R420.4 billion ($25.92 billion) a year earlier. Sanlam said the increase was helped by stronger client inflows into its South African asset management operations and solid results from its life and general insurance businesses. Net client cash flows more than doubled to R126.75 billion ($7.81 billion), compared with R54.14 billion ($3.33 billion) in 2024.

Profit falls from 2024 level

The stronger business volumes did not translate into higher profit attributable to shareholders. That measure fell 28 percent to R15.94 billion ($980 million), from R22.24 billion ($1.37 billion) in 2024. Headline earnings also declined 18 percent to R16.55 billion ($1.02 billion), compared with R20.08 billion ($1.23 billion) a year earlier.

Sanlam said the decline was partly due to a high comparison base in 2024. That year benefited from one-off reinsurance recapture fees following the end of its partnership with Capitec, as well as gains from the disposal of businesses in Namibia and Shriram Finance. Lower investment returns on shareholder funds also affected the 2025 result after the rand strengthened sharply against the Indian rupee and the U.S. dollar toward the end of the year.