JOHANNESBURG (Sept 3): Sanlam Ltd., the largest South African-based insurer, said profit in the six months through June rose 8.3% as it sold more policies even as volatility hurt investment returns and growth in its home market slowed.

Net income climbed to 5.49 billion rand (US$409 million) in the first half, from a reviewed 5.07 billion rand a year earlier, the Cape Town-based company said in a statement on Thursday. New business volumes rose 22% to 100 billion rand. The insurer doesn’t pay half-year dividends.

Sanlam has been expanding in Africa and Asia to help boost profit as the South African economy slows. It has a presence in countries including India, Malaysia, the U.K., Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Ghana and Kenya. While increased regulation is among hurdles facing insurers in South Africa, Indian rules allowing foreign firms to increase stakes in companies in the country has encouraged Sanlam to expand in that market.

“We expect that the economic and operating environment will remain challenging for the remainder of 2015, with a resulting impact on the group’s key operational performance indicators,” Sanlam said in the statement. Interest rates, financial market returns and volatility “may have a major impact on the growth in normalized headline earnings and group equity value.”

Sanlam is the worst-performing stock on the six-member FTSE/JSE Africa Life Assurers Index this year, having dropped 11%, compared with the index’s 3.4% gain.