Old Mutual announces sales momentum in improved investment market

Old Mutual Plc today announced its results for the 2009 third quarter. Sales showed a significant improvement on the first half of the year as the demand for equity-based investments returned. Old Mutual South Africa, including the rest of Africa, delivered third quarter life sales at a similar level to last year, an encouraging result given South Africa’s late entry into recession, and strong growth in unit trust sales, up an impressive 53% due to strong money market inflows.

In the United Kingdom, third quarter sales were at the highest level since the second quarter of 2008, with life sales up 6% and unit trust sales up 53%. Year-to-date sales were similar to last year's level. Old Mutual is outperforming the market in the UK as it continues to strengthen its relationships with the Independent Financial Advisers who market its products.

Old Mutual also reported that its Financial Group’s Directive (FGD) surplus at 30 September was £1.4 billion, a considerable improvement on the Group’s capital position at the end of June.

Commenting on the results and looking ahead, Group Chief Executive, Julian Roberts, said:

“The Group has delivered a good sales performance during the third quarter, a marked improvement on the first half of the year, as the pick-up in the investment market has lead to increased equity allocation by our clients. This trend has continued into the fourth quarter, although consumers and asset allocators remain cautious. We expect market conditions to remain volatile.

“We have made further strategic progress. We have resolved our capital and liquidity issues, we are successfully managing the risks in US Life, and we continue to simplify the portfolio. As recently announced, we have made an offer to acquire the remaining ordinary shares in Mutual & Federal, which we expect to complete before the end of the year.

“We remain focused on managing risk and capital tightly and on driving further underlying operating efficiencies in order to capitalise on further recovery in our markets.”