Yes, if you read the press release from this time, last year,...

Yes, if you read the press release from this time, last year, management has almost said exactly the same thing regarding outlook. Its almost a copy/paste job!

From 2017:
"nib declared a full year dividend of 19.0 cents per share, fully franked (FY16: 14.75 cents per share) which includes a final dividend of 10.5 cents per share (FY16: 9.0 cents per share). The full year dividend represents a payout ratio of 70% of FY17 NPAT. The final dividend has an ex-dividend date and record date of 7 and 8 September 2017 respectively, and will be paid on 6 October, 2017. nib is forecasting FY18 UOP will be at least $150 million (statutory operating profit of at least $141 million) and investment income in line with internal benchmarks.
According to Mr Fitzgibbon, FY18 guidance implies some margin contraction within the arhi business as well as additional investment in new ventures and technology. “The outlook for claims inflation and premium pricing as well as the investments we're making in long term growth across the Group means in FY18 we don't anticipate earnings accretion like we've become accustomed.
Most likely our profitability within arhi will return to being within our target net margin range of 5% to 6%.” "But we do have a number of well-developed plans to boost growth in established businesses and create additional enterprise value from some new business ventures including a proposed initiative in China,” Mr Fitzgibbon said."