Innovation & Operational & Financial Excellence Pays Off For Discovery

Innovation & Operational & Financial Excellence Pays Off For Discovery          
Discovery Holdings Limited                                                      
(Registration number : 1999/007789/06)                                          
ISIN  : ZAE000022331                                                            
Share Code : DSY                                                                
HIGHLIGHTS                                                                      
- Headline earnings per share - up 42%                                          
- New business premium income - up 35% to R3.1bn                                
- Gross inflows under management - up 42%                                       
- Destiny Health secures two joint ventures                                     
JSE-listed health and life assurance group, Discovery, increased new business   
premium by 35% to R3.14bn (2002: R2.33bn) and headline earnings per share by 42%
to 71,8c (2002: 50,7c) for the year ending June 2003.                           
"With strong organic growth having been achieved across all our businesses, the 
results reflect the success of a business philosophy of innovation, product     
leadership and operational and financial excellence," said Adrian Gore, CEO of  
the holding company.                                                            
Gore believes the four key businesses: healthcare company Discovery Health, life
insurer Discovery Life, lifestyle company Discovery Vitality and US-based       
healthcare company Destiny Health, are now well placed for strong future growth.
Commenting on the performance of each business, Gore said: "Discovery Health and
Discovery Vitality continued to produce strong organic growth, and Discovery    
Life is now a market leader in terms of risk-only life assurance.  Destiny      
Health has made great strides in its bid to break even by end 2003, and has     
secured two important joint ventures."                                          
Other significant operational developments in each of the businesses are:       
Discovery Health experienced a pleasing 26% rise in new business and a reduced  
lapse rate of 3.4% - indicative of the general satisfaction with the service and
value proposition offered to clients. Gore believes this in part due to the     
company"s intensified focus on service, brought about by the reengineering of   
Discovery Health"s service model into a series of small, cross-functional       
service teams. Gore says that clients are now benefiting from the focused,      
personalised service offered by teams that wrap around their clients and the    
force of competition between these teams. Total lives covered by Discovery      
Health grew by 23% to just under 1.5m members placing the Discovery Health      
Medical Scheme at more than twice the size of its closest competitor in the open
medical scheme market. The year also saw the company"s entrance into the        
employed but uninsured market with the early reception of the KeyCare Health    
Plans in the marketplace exceeding expectation, with 40 000 lives joining the   
plans in the first 6 months.                                                    
Discovery Life posted an exceptional performance with new business premium      
income growing by 60% and profit increasing by 936% to R114 million. As a       
recognised leader in the life assurance market, the company continued with its  
integration of the Discovery Health and Life Plans, which allows Discovery to   
offer clients an integrated comprehensive risk protection solution that caters  
for an individual"s entire spectrum of risk needs. This, coupled with the launch
of the Health Plan Protector had an important impact on the growth of           
policyholders.                                                                  
Discovery Vitality made an important contribution during the past year to       
delivering on Discovery"s core purpose of making people healthier, with members 
now exceeding 1 million people. Furthermore, research indicated that members are
in fact changing their behaviour, with 40% more Vitality members participating  
in preventative health screening than their non-Vitality counterparts.          
Destiny Health made significant strides in achieving corporate and product      
credibility in the year under review, receiving independent acknowledgement of  
its status as one of the leaders in the rapidly emerging "consumer-driven"      
health care market. To capitalise on this the company has focused on its joint  
ventures with the Guardian Life Assurance Company of America nationally and     
regionally with Tufts Health Plan of Boston. While new business from these joint
ventures is only expected to commence in January 2004, the company is expecting 
growth for Destiny in the US healthcare market as a result. New business grew   
65% to $42.5 million and membership by 128% and this, coupled with the greater  
economies of scale and costs savings associated with bringing the major         
administrative functionality back to Discovery in South Africa, bodes well for  
Destiny breaking even by end 2003                                               
"Operating as we do in industries of strong consumer demand, the year ahead     
holds much promise for Discovery"s businesses. Our capital raising initiative in
June to support the ongoing growth of Discovery Life and the rollout of the     
joint ventures to Destiny Health business raised R664 million. The company"s    
financial strength and positioning of the businesses place it in a favourable   
position for future growth," says Gore.                                         
ends                                                                            
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:                                         
Roz McComb (082 925 8806) / Debbie Brewitt (084 616 7000)                       
Corporate Communications Consultants (Pty) Ltd                                  
Tel:  (011) 783-8926      Fax:  (011) 783-7608                                  
E-mail: roslinm@corpcom.co.za                                                   
On behalf of:  Adrian Gore                                                      
               Chief Executive Officerb                                         
Contact     :  Discovery                                                        
               (011) 529 2800                                                   
Date:          26 August 2003                                                   
Date: 26/08/2003 09:01:03 AM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
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