Chairman’s letter to shareholders
(For the year ended 31 December 2009)
"2009 was an extraordinary year, with a loss for the first six months to 30 June 2009. The group however returned to profitability in the second half of the year."
Business environment
The effects of the 2008 global financial market crisis continued into the early parts of 2009. Mass de-leveraging occurred, placing significant liquidity pressure on the markets in early 2009. Subsequent to the first quarter, markets started to respond to the combined government remedial measures and cautious optimism led to some recovery on most major world equity markets during the remainder of 2009.
Although South Africa returned to positive real GDP growth in the third quarter of 2009, consumers' disposable incomes remain under pressure. The sustainability of South Africa's economic recovery into 2010 is highly dependent on a pick-up in consumer spending, which itself is linked to consumer confidence and employment conditions.
For Liberty, 2009 was an extraordinary year, the first half characterised by the cost of de-risking the balance sheet and the impact of significant declining persistency, leading to a loss for the six months to 30 June 2009. The group however returned to profitability in the second half of the year, mainly due to management action taken which resulted in no further deterioration in persistency trends and the improved local equity markets.
Chairman’s letter to shareholders
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