Namibia-based and JSE-listed financial services firm, Trustco, on Tuesday said it expects headline earnings a share for the year to March 2013 to be a shocking 50 percent lower.

The firm said this is attributable to a reduction in profits in the micro insurance division in South Africa.

“The decrease in revenues is as a result of certain claims administration contracts that ended during the period and were not renewed; coupled with a significant investment and new business spend on launching the group’s micro-insurance products in South Africa,” the firm said in a statement.

The firm added that another reason is the lessened income from property sales “representing the final sales of properties in the Phase I of the ‘Landbank’ monetisation program, which began in the 2010 financial period.”

The firm said the basic headline earnings per share for the reporting period will be 60 percent lower than the previous reporting period.

Trustco is a listed firm with traditional Namibian style.  Its creative business model has often produced good results since its introduction in the company.

Trustco started as the legal insurance firm, looking only at inexpensive access to legal services for Namibia’s lower income groups.

Today, the company has about 650 staff members, spread out in Namibian and South African operations.

Its core business segments include micro insurance and technology, micro finance and education, properties and mortgage loans.

It was listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) on the 27th of September 2006. It was listed on the JSE in 2009.

It is now trading in the ‘specialty finance’ sector of the JSE main board.