Chairman's Statement

Old Mutual PLC 18 May 2000 OLD MUTUAL PLC AGM Statement At the Annual General Meeting of Old Mutual plc held today, Mike Levett, Chairman, made the following statement on current trading: 'The year has begun well for Old Mutual. In our core South African life assurance operations, our business continues to show positive trends and we remain confident of its prospects. Worldwide and in South Africa, higher interest rates and recent stock market volatility have depressed equity market performance and a weakened Rand/Sterling exchange rate will affect the reporting of our results in sterling terms. 'Nedcor, our partially owned banking subsidiary, awaits a ruling by the financial regulators in South Africa on its desire for a merger with Standard Bank Investment Corporation, another South African bank. In the light of this, it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comment at this time. 'Over the past few days we have completed all formalities associated with our acquisition of Gerrard Group. Plans for integration are developing speedily and positively. We will incorporate Gerrard's financial results into the Group with effect from 1 April and report more fully in our interim results announcement on 5 September.' 18 May 2000 ENQUIRIES: Old Mutual plc Tel: +44 (0)20 7569 0100 James Poole College Hill (London) Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020 Gareth David Email:gdavid@collegehill.com Tony Friend Email:tonyf@collegehill.com College Hill (Johannesburg) Tel: +27 11 447 3030 Graham Fiford Email:grahamf@collegehillir.co.za
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