LIFE INSURANCE and financial services group Old Mutual on Tuesday posted basic earnings per share of 20 pence for the first half of 1999, its first results since listing in London and Johannesburg in July. Old Mutual reported a 34% increase in embedded value to 4,7-billion, giving a embedded value per share of 152 pence adjusted for the new capital it which raised on listing. While the group’s banking subsidiary Nedcor performed well, a steep rise in South African interest rates affected new recurring business volumes for the life assurance business — a problem Old Mutual said should now be reversed.