By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
(Reuters) - Canada’s biggest life insurer Manulife Financial Corp on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit that was largely unchanged.
Manulife reported core earnings of C$1.47 billion ($1.16 billion), or 74 Canadian cents a share, in the three months through December, compared with C$1.47 billion, or 73 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier.
($1 = 1.2696 Canadian dollars)
(Corrects to remove reference to performance slip at Asian, U.S. and wealth and asset management businesses in paragraph 1)
Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.
3 Min Read
TORONTO, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Canada’s top two life insurers expressed optimism about 2021 on Wednesday despite continued uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic after both reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profits, buoyed by strong wealth management gains.
Insurers globally have seen payouts rise due to claims related to the coronavirus pandemic, but strong equity markets growth, driven in part by record low interest rates, has helped soften the blow, while those with operations around the world have also benefited from re-openings in some markets.
Canada’s top insurer Manulife Financial Corp expects Asia to contribute half of its core earnings by 2025, Chief Executive Roy Gori told Reuters, from about 38% in 2020. Manulife has been on the lookout for M&A opportunities in Asia to boost the fast-growing region’s contribution to the group’s overall earnings.
(Adds share prices, background)
TORONTO, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Canada’s top insurer Manulife Financial Corp will prioritize organic growth, dividend increases and share buybacks over acquisitions for its C$29 billion ($22.9 billion) of excess capital, its chief executive said on Thursday.
“We don’t need M&A to deliver on our medium-term goals of 10% to 12% core earnings per share growth,” CEO Roy Gori said on an analyst call after reporting higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
“When we do deploy capital, for any M&A, we will do that opportunistically . when we’ve got a high degree of confidence that we can execute against that agenda,” he added.
Aegon beat analysts' expectations with a 7% increase in second-half core earnings to 1.03 billion euros ($1.25 billion) helped by cost savings and rising stock prices, the Dutch insurer said on Thursday.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
BOSTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb called Intel’s resources “unmatched” in the semiconductor industry and said his firm, Third Point, is “excited” to be a long-term investor.
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Loeb updated Third Point’s clients on progress at Intel in a letter seen by Reuters. Less than eight weeks ago he pushed the company to attract fresh talent, keep its best people, and explore deal options.
Last month the company said Pat Gelsinger, who had worked at Intel decades ago, would return as Chief Executive after running VMware.
Loeb heaped fresh praise on the new CEO in the letter after having tweeted about it last month.