<\/p>\n
You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: What we are going to get into now is the latest from the team at the Old Mutual Group, which provided us with an update on the performance of the company for the year that was [the year to 31\u00a0December 2025].<\/p>\n
I\u2019m joined on the line by the chief executive officer at the Old Mutual Group, Jurie Strydom, to look at the performance and see what to make of it. Jurie, lovely having you on the show, as always. Thanks so much for taking the time.<\/p>\n
A mixed set of updates from an annual perspective, but at a group level the group is doing exceptionally well, increasing from a revenue and a growth perspective. How did you find the year?<\/p>\n
JURIE STRYDOM: Thanks, Jimmy. Good to be with you. I think we would classify it as a sort of steady operating performance \u2013 the results from operations up 13%, adjusted headline earnings up 24%.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the sort of big earnings metric that we tend to reference, of course cautioning that that\u2019s significantly supported, like all of our peers, by a market with financial market performance.<\/p>\n
But we are pleased with an 8% dividend increase.<\/p>\n
Our shareholders are going to be pleased with an 8% increase in the dividend.<\/p>\n
And then importantly the group equity value \u2013 which is the sort of value that we place on the business \u2013 up to R19.80 per share.<\/p>\n
Read: Old Mutual earnings up 13%, dividend rises 8%<\/p>\n
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JIMMY MOYAHA: Speaking of value, Jurie, let\u2019s look at some of the updates within the business. The Old Mutual Bank business \u2013 perhaps you can give us an update on that. We saw that the carrying value of that had to be impaired under IAS 36 by half of what we initially had it there. Give us a sense of what\u2019s happening in that business \u2013 the reason and the rationale behind the impairment and perhaps how that business is coming along.<\/p>\n
JURIE STRYDOM: We\u2019re actually very comfortable with the performance of the business.<\/p>\n
We went live with the business in September last year. We\u2019ve got significant customer attraction.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re still signing up 3\u00a0000 customers a day. The deposit book has built nicely and the whole proposition around that business is actually an integration with our existing Old Mutual distribution and bricks and mortar infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Almost half the customers actually signed up through our Old Mutual Finance branches.<\/p>\n
So this is a year of significant execution in that business. It\u2019s not just about acquiring customers but also about transaction activity, credit extension and the like.<\/p>\n
And of course, the integration of the Old Mutual Rewards, which is also proving a significant catalyst.<\/p>\n
I think the point of the impairment was sort of a technical matter. If you look through to the group equity value that we reference, that kind of reflects the value that we place on the bank in the context of the overall value of Old Mutual \u2013 and I quoted that number of R19.80 per share.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Jurie, the business that is the Old Mutual Group \u2013 over the more than a century it has been around \u2013 has built up many different parts in the form of the insurance business, the life business, now the banking business and the other operating entities.<\/p>\n
Take us through perhaps the standout performers from a divisional perspective, if any \u2013 or if there are any divisions that might have you a bit worried at this stage.<\/p>\n
JURIE STRYDOM: I think it is a portfolio of businesses, Jimmy, as you say. So there are always different cycles.<\/p>\n
I think we\u2019d call out the Old Mutual Insure business in this year, with a normalised underwriting margin of 8.3%, which we are very pleased with.<\/p>\n
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And we think that that business now is a platform that we\u2019ve turned around operationally. We think it\u2019s at the cutting edge in many ways of claims management and actual pricing, the use of data and AI.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019re very comfortable with that as a growth platform going forward.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Jurie, let\u2019s take a look at the buyback announced towards the latter part of 2025 \u2013 September or so \u2013 a R3\u00a0billion share buyback there. How is that moving along from a business perspective?<\/p>\n
JURIE STRYDOM: We\u2019d executed R700\u00a0million of that by the end of December. As of yesterday, that\u2019s R1.3\u00a0billion. And so we\u2019re R1.3\u00a0billion through the R3\u00a0billion that we set up. That programme will carry on for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n
We execute according to where the share price is relative to group equity value, and so that\u2019s got to be value-accretive for shareholders as we execute.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Jurie, let\u2019s take a look at the board changes that have been announced or that are said to be coming into effect.<\/p>\n
We know we\u2019ve got a chair designate, with the current chair in the form of Trevor Manuel set to step down. We know that there\u2019s a new Old Mutual Insure CEO coming into the fold. Take us through some of the corporate and board adjustments and how they will impact the business\u2019s management.<\/p>\n
JURIE STRYDOM: Obviously the big news is the announcement of the chair designate as Roger Jardine.<\/p>\n
Read: Roger Jardine to chair Old Mutual upon Trevor Manuel\u2019s retirement<\/p>\n
Roger joined the board in September, and we\u2019ve been working with him since then, but of course he comes with extraordinary credentials and a track record for his time both as a chief executive and as a non-executive chairman at some of South Africa\u2019s leading companies. So we\u2019re really delighted.<\/p>\n
Of course, those are very big shoes to fill.<\/p>\n
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Trevor Manuel \u2013 I\u2019ve had the great privilege of working with him as a non-executive and then as a chief executive. So certainly there\u2019ll be a time to pay tribute to the indelible impact that he\u2019s made on the group over the last decade.<\/p>\n
It has been an extraordinary impact.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Jurie, let\u2019s look ahead to the new financial year, the business finally getting over the hurdles well in time, of course, with that Old Mutual Bank launch. I imagine that would have taken a bit of resource to get over the line and get all the relevant licensing in place. That is done. The business is on a good footing there. Other business units are performing well.<\/p>\n
How are you approaching the new year from a strategic point of view, and what are you looking forward to?<\/p>\n
JURIE STRYDOM: Jimmy, I came in as group chief executive midway through last year.<\/p>\n
In the second half of last year, we had that strategic reset and we set ourselves five really important medium-term targets, three-to-five-year targets on the most important measures in our group.<\/p>\n
So 2026 really is the first year of really moving from where we are to where we need to be in terms of those targets.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s a year of execution, it\u2019s a year of the management team putting runs on the board on those key measures.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Executing and making sure that runs get on the board from an old Mutual perspective, a business that has been in South African lives for well over a century has been having a good year and hoping that that will continue.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll leave the conversation on that note. Thanks so much to group chief executive officer Jurie Strydom for joining us to look at the year that was \u2013 the year that ended 31st December 2025.<\/p>\n
#Mutual #CEO #Jurie #Strydom #talks #results #bank #board #moves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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