Broker snap: Old Mutual retained at overweight by Barclays

8th Nov 2013 12:22

Old Mutual's Group Operating Officer, Paul Hanratty, revealed positive signs in South Africa whilst speaking at an event hosted by Barclays on Thursday evening. Shareholders can expect to begin to see value appear from its operations in the rest of Africa within the next five years, Hanratty said. The group revealed that the goal to double earnings from UK operations to £300m by 2015 is looking very achievable. The initial public offering (IPO) of its US asset management business is on track, the company went on to say, with the proceeds to be deployed to pay down debt. "The US asset management business has now seen three consecutive quarters of net inflows, the main metric that the business had to show making progress in order to have the option to IPO," the broker explained. The IPO has been speculated upon for some time now, but Hanratty gave a very clear message that the IPO is not only being considered, but that the time to make a decision on it is now approaching, Barclays said.Barclays opted to retain their overweight rating on the stock. AB