South Africa's Santam FY earnings up 40 pct, propped by good weather

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African short-term insurer Santam reported a 40 percent jump in full-year earnings on Monday, slightly lower than expected, after a turnaround in its crop insurance segment and an absence in hail-related catastrophes. Santam said diluted headline earnings per share rose to 1,435 cents in the year to end-December from 1,023 cents a year ago. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 42 percent increase in earnings to 1,450 cents per share. The insurer majority-owned by Sanlam said its gross written premiums - or the amount customers paid up for their insurance policies during the period - rose 10 percent to 22.7 billion rand ($1.9 billion). Its crop insurance business made an underwriting profit of 251 million rand from a loss of 142 million rand in 2013, it said. South Africa's largest property and casualty insurer raised its dividend by 10 percent to 742 cents, much lower than the 1,298 cents analysts had anticipated. Santam shares were down 1 percent at 1235 GMT, compared with a 0.6 percent decline by Johannesburg's All-share index. ($1 = 11.7386 rand)