Insurer Old Mutual reported a 12% rise in first-half profit, helped by a strong performance at its South African banking business, and said it was pressing ahead with plans to expand across sub-Saharan Africa.
Old Mutual, which runs insurance, banking and asset management businesses in about 30 countries, made an adjusted pretax operating profit of £791 million ($1.24 billion) in the first six months of the year, it said on Wednesday.
The improvement partly reflected a 27% jump in profit at Nedbank, its majority-owned South African banking business.
Old Mutual, which in March announced plans to bolster its presence in fast-growing African markets, said it was considering a move into Nigerian non-life insurance.
The company, which has said it aimed to sell its Nedbank stake as part of a plan to refocus on life insurance and asset management, also said it had paid off £603 million of debt this year.
That brought it within £450 million of its target of reducing borrowing by £1.5 billion by the end of 2012.
Old Mutual shares closed at 170p on Tuesday, valuing it at about £8 billion pounds.
