A weaker pound also helped given the proportion on Old Mutual's earnings outside the UK and the shares ended up 4.8p, or 4.6%, at 110.1p.
For the three months that ended Sept. 30, Washington Mutual reported earnings of $748 million, or 77 cents a share, down from $821 million, or 92 cents a share, a year earlier.
In the last 10 years, there has been only one year where Washington Mutual saw its earnings decline.
We estimate that if the Fed raises rates by 1.25 percentage points, Washington Mutual will see earnings grow 10percentthis yearandanextext.
Richard Jay Kogan, the previous chief executive, was ousted because he told mutual fund bigwigs earnings would be "terrible" without offering the same outlook to small investors.
The company, which converted from a policyholder-owned mutual insurer last year, said earnings before one-time items rose to $384 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $379 million, or 48 cents a share, in the period a year earlier.
When you purchase permanent life insurance, part of your premium goes into a cash value account that can grow based on policy dividends, interest, and/or earnings from mutual fund-like sub-accounts.
Washington Mutual plans to report its earnings on Oct. 22.
Mr. Loregio, who for health reasons retired early from a company that provides credit card services for businesses, said he was not withdrawing money from his mutual funds now because his earnings were down.
Because the earnings of a mutual fund company are a function of total assets under management among all its funds, it will earn more when one of its funds is at or near the top of the rankings — regardless of where its other funds may be ranked.
Through the first nine months of this year, Washington Mutual has already surpassed the earnings per share it recorded in all of 2000.
