FINANCE Shares in Old Mutual closed down almost 6 per cent at 166p after the South African financials group reported disappointing third-quarter figures.
The London-listed insurer’s IFRS operating profits for the three months to September 30 came in at £287 million, which Jim Sutcliffe, the chief executive, admitted was below expectations. The main cause of the fall were data errors discovered at the South African arm, which chopped 276 million rand (£19.8 million) off the operation’s earnings.
Mr Sutcliffe said that the share price plunge was “not a fair reaction” to the rate of growth reported by the group. He said that Old Mutual was well-positioned to provide products to the new middle classes in several emerging markets and was catering to the demand for transparent products in more sophisticated markets. “We’re not fighting it, we’re riding it,” he said.