Power Financial Corp. (TSX:PWF) says it earned $533 million in its latest quarter, up from $389 million a year ago, helped by a re-evaluation of a litigation provision by its insurance subsidiary.

The company’s profit amounted to 75 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 55 cents per share in the last three months of 2010.

Power Financial’s holdings include controlling interests in Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX:GWO), which makes up its insurance business, and IGM Financial Inc. (TSX:IGM), one of Canada’s largest mutual fund companies.

“The re-evaluation positively impacted common shareholders’ net earnings of Lifeco by $223 million,” the Montreal-based company said in a news release Wednesday.

“Additionally, Lifeco established a $99 million after-tax provision in respect of the settlement of litigation relating to its ownership in a U.S.-based private equity firm. The net impact to Power Financial of these two unrelated matters was a contribution of $88 million,” Power Financial said.

For the fiscal year 2011, Power Financial had net earnings attributable to common shareholders of $1.7 billion or $2.43 per share, an increase of 6.2% from 2010. In 2010, Power Financial earned $1.47 billion or $2.08 per share.

For the three-month period ended Dec. 31, Lifeco had net earnings of $500 million or 52.8 cents per share, compared with $465 million or 49.1 cents per share in the same period in 2010.

Lifeco’s earnings exclude the net impact of the two unrelated litigation provisions, which increased earnings of Lifeco by $124 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

For the fourth-quarter of 2011, IGM reported net earnings of $196 million or 76 cents per share, compared with $210 million or 80 cents per share for the same period in 2010, a decrease of five%.

Shares in Power Financial gained 5.2% or $1.48 to close at$29.80 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The company’s parent, Power Corporation of Canada, also announced its financial results for the same period. In addition to the financial businesses, it has a media subsidiary that owns, among other things, Montreal La Presse.

Its operating earnings attributable to participating shareholders for the year rose to $1.15 billion or $2.50 per share, up from $957 million or $2.09 per share in 2010.

That included $241 million or 52 cents per share in the fourth quarter, up from $232 million or 51 cents per share in the comparable quarter of 2010.