Old Mutual annual profit surges and says Chair Manuel to retire

(Alliance News) - Old Mutual Ltd on Tuesday reported sharply higher annual profit, and announced the retirement of its Chair Trevor Manuel.

The Anglo-South African financial services firm delivered a 47% surge in pretax profit to ZAR22.71 billion, around GBP1.02 billion, in 2025 from ZAR15.49 billion in 2024.

The company said its 2025 results reflected improved operating performance in its life & savings business and Old Mutual Insure.

Total insurance revenue for the year was ZAR81.57 billion, up 12% from ZAR72.66 billion.

At Old Mutual's life & savings unit, present value of new business premiums was flat at ZAR70.32 billion. However, the value of new business fell 52% to ZAR850 million from ZAR1.76 billion, with the value of new business margin declining to 1.2% from 2.5%.

As at December 31, funds under management were ZAR1.639 trillion, up 13% from ZAR1.446 trillion a year prior.

At Old Mutual Insure, underwriting margin improved to 6.8% from 6.2%.

Total non-insurance revenue rose 6.0% to ZAR18.79 billion from ZAR17.72 billion, while net investment return grew 46% to ZAR222.54 billion from ZAR152.62 billion.

Old Mutual declared a final dividend of 56 rand cents, up 7.7% from 52 cents, bringing the total payout for 2025 to 93 cents, up 8.1% from 86 cents.

The company said it had brought back shares worth ZAR700 million since launching its ZAR3 billion repurchase programme in September 2025.

Basic earnings per share rose 12% to 197.0 cents from 176.2 cents, but headline EPS earnings per share was down 0.5% to 201.6 cents from 202.7 cents.

On Tuesday, Old Mutual announces that it had picked Roger Jardine as chair designate. Jardine, who was appointed as non-executive director in September last year, will assume the chair position at the company's annual general meeting to be held on June 5. Manuel will retire at the close of the AGM.

"Mr Jardine will work alongside Mr Manuel during a three-month handover period from March to June 2026 to ensure continuity of strategic leadership, structured stakeholder engagement, and an orderly transition," the company said.

Looking ahead, Old Mutual said it remains committed to restore its value of new business margin by focusing on enhancing business mix, retention and collections, supported by cost savings.

By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News senior reporter South Africa

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Old Mutual Lim.