Manulife Financial has reported net income of $1.64bn attributable to shareholders for the fourth quarter of 2024 (Q4 2024), a 3% decrease compared with $1.66bn in the same quarter of the previous year.
The company’s earnings per share (EPS) for Q4 2024 stood at $0.88, against $0.86 in 2023.
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Core earnings for the quarter reached $1.9bn, a 6% increase from $1.7bn in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The insurer reported financial results for four segments: Asia, Canada, the US and Global Wealth and Asset Management (WAM).
The Asia segment’s core earnings saw a 16% increase to $477m in Q4 2024, which the company attributed to “continued business growth momentum and impacts from the annual updates to actuarial methods and assumptions”.
In Canada, core earnings rose by 11% to $390m due to favourable insurance experience and business growth in Group Insurance.
However, US core earnings saw a 16% decrease to $294m.
This was attributed to lower investments and impacts from a finalised reinsurance deal, and the annual review of actuaries.
The company purchased and cancelled 4.6% of its common shares outstanding, equivalent to more than 82 million shares, for $3.2bn in 2024.
For the full year, Manulife’s net income attributed to shareholders increased by 5% to $5.4bn, up from $5.1bn in 2023.
Full-year EPS also rose by 8% to $2.84 from $2.61 in the previous year.
Core earnings were up by 8% to $7.2bn from $6.7bn in 2023.
The Asia segment contributed with $1.8bn in core earnings, marking a 27% increase, while Canada reported a 5% increase to $1.5bn.
However, US core earnings decreased by 5% to $1.2bn in 2024 from $1.3bn in 2023.
Additionally, Manulife announced a normal course issuer bid that allows the repurchase of up to 3% of its outstanding common shares, starting late this month.
Manulife president and CEO Roy Gori said: “We continued to build on our momentum to deliver for shareholders and customers.
“We also made significant progress towards our digital, customer leadership ambition, achieving a record high Net Promoter Score and generating over $600m of benefits from our initiatives globally in 2024.”
The company also appointed Nancy Carroll and John Montalbano to its board of directors, effective 28 February 2025.
Last month, Manulife concluded a reinsurance transaction with Reinsurance Group of America valued at $5.4bn), which included $2.4bn of long-term care reserves.
