(November 15 – 17:05 ET) – Manulife Financial reported record third quarter earnings of $224 million, an increase of $82 million or 58 per cent over the prior year. For the nine months ended September 30, 1999, net income totaled $623 million, also a record and up 22 per cent over 1998.
The strong results reflect continued growth in both protection and wealth management operation as well as favourable claims experience across all lines of business, Manulife said in a prepared statement.
Premiums and deposits totaled $4.9 billion in the quarter compared to $3.9 billion in the third quarter last year, while return on equity rose to 14.1 per cent from 10.1 per cent last year. Based on total company results and using the number of shares outstanding as at September 30, 1999, earnings per share in the quarter were $0.45 per share, up from $0.28 per share last year. At September 30, 1999, funds under management were $105.1 billion, an increase of 17 per cent from the same period last year.
On September 23, 1999, Manulife Financial completed its demutualization process with the listing of its stock on the Toronto, New York, Montreal, Hong Kong and Philippine stock exchanges. All proceeds raised in the initial public offering — which at $2.5 billion was the largest in Canadian history — were used to cash out policyholders who had requested that shares due to them on demutualization be sold.
-IE Staff
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