Momentum Health taking over administration of Bonitas: 'It gives us incredible scale'

The Momentum Group has announced that Momentum Health will be taking over the administration of Bonitas Medical Fund from 1 June.

This marks the biggest transfer of a medical scheme from one administrator to another in South Africa, after Momentum won the tender to administer Bonitas in February.

Presenting its half-year results to end-December 2025, the insurance and investment group reported an increase in headline earnings of 8% to R3.56 billion for the six months.

Normalised headline earnings (NHE) were up 8% R3.695 billion.

NHE per share improved by 12% from 244.8 cents to 274.9 cents, reflecting the positive impact of Momentum's share buyback programme, the Group said

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) rose 13% from 243.6 cents to 274.4 cents per share.

Momentum declared an interim dividend of 110 cents per ordinary share, an increase of 29% over the previous period.

Stephen Grootes asks Group CEO Jeanette Marais about the Bonitas deal, and whether this means they are now chasing Discovery Health in the medical aid space.

Emphasizing that the 30% market share they cited in their presentation referred specifically to the area of health administration, Marais says overtaking them is "not impossible".

"In this case, Discovery have a 34% market share in the administration area and we're now at 30%, so I suppose it's not impossible if we win another really big contract... It could be within our reach."

What she'd rather focus on, Marais says, is the fact this is the biggest transfer of a medical scheme in the history of South Africa, adding 370 000 families and 750 000 beneficiaries to their health administration.

"When that happens and you already run an efficient business, it means you just get incredible scale, so it gives you the ability to manage this on a more profitable basis."

"Of course Bonitas do publish their own financial statements so if someone wants to get an idea they can look on their website and think that around two thirds of that business will now be under our administration, so it is making a very material difference to our Momentum Health business."

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