Santam Ltd. provided earnings guidance for the year ended December 31, 2016. For the period, the company expects its headline earnings per share (HEPS) to be between 39% to 44% below and earnings per share (EPS) to be between 44% to 49% lower than those reported for the comparative period in 2015. HEPS is expected to be between 1.033 cents per share and 1.125 cents per share against of 1.844 cents in 2015. while EPS is expected to be between 1.066 cents per share and 1.170 cents per share against of 2.090 cents per share in 2015. The decrease in HEPS and EPS has been driven by a normalization of the net underwriting results, compared to the exceptional performance of 2015, as well as significantly lower investment returns, mainly due to the strengthening of the rand in 2016. The net underwriting margin is expected to be above the midpoint of the long term target range of 4% to 8% of net earned premiums. The underwriting results were negatively impacted by a few large corporate property claims and a decline in crop business profits from their high levels of 2015, driven by drought-related claims during the first half of 2016. Several catastrophe events impacted the 2016 results, mitigated by reinsurance recoveries. The net commission ratio also increased following lower reinsurance commission earned on specialist business lines and higher commission rates on business from outside South Africa.