Old Mutual Holdings made more profit in six months than it made in all of 2025

Old Mutual Holdings Plc reported a profit after tax of KES 882 million for the six months to 30 June 2026, up from KES 5 million in the same period a year earlier.

That half-year figure is bigger than the group’s entire 2025. Old Mutual made KES 856 million for the full year to December 2025, which was 2% up on the KES 838 million it made in 2024.

Old Mutual Holdings is the East African arm of Old Mutual Limited, the South African financial services group, and it was called UAP Holdings before Old Mutual took control of it. It sells life and general insurance, runs an investment manager, and owns Faulu Microfinance Bank. It operates in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda, and holds a KES 20 billion property portfolio that includes Old Mutual Tower in Nairobi and Nakawa Business Park in Kampala. We covered its financial wellness campaign for SMEs and households in May.

Underwriting stopped bleeding

The insurance service result was a profit of KES 287 million, against a loss of KES 303 million in the first half of 2025. That line is what the insurance business earns from premiums after claims and the cost of servicing policies, so it is the direct measure of whether the underwriting works. Old Mutual credits claims management, underwriting discipline and cost control. It also says underwriting margins across the industry remain under pressure, though it gives no figures for that.

Britam, which reported on the same day, posted a net insurance service result of KES 1.76 billion, up 36%. Old Mutual is coming back from a loss. Britam was already profitable.

The net investment result rose 16% to KES 1.9 billion from KES 1.7 billion. Commission, fees and other income reached KES 1.6 billion, with commission income up 34% on the back of a 32% rise in assets under management.

“We will continue to enhance this performance through new growth engines and a focus on a value led rather than a volume led business,” Group CEO Arthur Oginga said in the release.

The dividend needs a judge

Old Mutual has not resumed dividends, and the reason sits on its balance sheet. Accumulated retained losses stood at KES 7.064 billion on 31 December 2025. At the annual general meeting on 30 June 2026, shareholders approved moving KES 4.67 billion out of the share premium account to cut those losses down. No cash moves and no new shares are issued. The transaction still needs confirmation from the High Court of Kenya before it takes effect.

Chairman Habil Olaka put the dividend in the future tense. The ambition, is “to create the capacity for sustainable shareholder distributions, including the future resumption of dividend payment”, subject to the group’s financial position and regulatory requirements.

Old Mutual did not publish gross written premium, total assets or a segment breakdown with the announcement, and it declared no interim dividend.