10th Sep 2025 08:04
(Alliance News) - Old Mutual Ltd on Wednesday announced a share buyback plan, but reported that it had taken a tax hit that damped its interim earnings.
The Anglo-South African financial services firm delivered a pretax profit of ZAR9.80 billion for the six months that ended June 30, up 6.3% from ZAR9.22 billion.
First-half insurance revenue rose 8.2% to ZAR38.27 billion from ZAR35.38 billion, while non-insurance revenue and income was down 1.5% to ZAR8.96 billion from ZAR9.11 billion.
In life and savings & asset management business, gross flows were 6.8% higher at ZAR106.76 billion from ZAR99.94 billion, driven by good contributions from wealth management and Old Mutual Africa Regions, partially offset by lower inflows in personal finance unit.
Funds under management amounted to ZAR1.504 trillion at June 30, up 8.9% from ZAR1.381 trillion at June 230, 2024.
Gross written premiums grew by 5.4% to ZAR14.51 billion from ZAR13.76 billion, thanks to good growth in Old Mutual Insure.
Results from operations per share rose 19% to 113.5 rand cents from 95.5 cents, largely owing to "exceptional" growth in Old Mutual Insure and favourable market conditions.
The net investment return climbed 22% to ZAR84.39 billion from ZAR69.37 billion. The JSE All-Share Index returned 17% in the first half of 2025, Old Mutual said. Malawi faced elevated equity markets and heightened currency risk as a result of sustained inflationary pressures, it noted.
Old Mutual declared an interim dividend of 37 rand cents, up 8.8% from 34 cents.
The company said it board had approved a share buyback of up to ZAR3 billion, subject to prevailing market conditions.
"The buyback will proceed, while the share price reflects a level that is considered accretive to shareholder value," the group said.
Income tax expense surged 48% to ZAR5.28 billion from ZAR3.57 billion, hitting earnings.
Earnings per share fell 20% to 96.1 cents from 120.2 cents, while headline EPS declined 27% to 97.5 cents from 133.6 cents.
Old Mutual said it has appointed Roger Jardine and Jan-Hendrik Erasmus as non-executive directors, subject to regulatory approval.
Looking ahead, the combination of geopolitical headwinds and resilient market sentiment underpins a "cautious", but "constructive" outlook for the remainder of 2025.
By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News senior reporter South Africa
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