Manulife net income slips in Q4 but up for 2022 as a whole

TORONTO – Manulife Financial Corp. says earnings slipped in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier but rose for the full 2022 financial year.

The insurance giant says net income attributable to shareholders came in at $1.89 billion for the fourth quarter, compared with $2.08 billion for the same quarter a year earlier.

Net earnings attributable to shareholders for the year totalled $7.3 billion, up from $7.1 billion for a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a net income of $1.86 billion for the fourth quarter, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

The company says the higher earnings for the year were related to annuity transactions in the U.S. and benefits from changes to the Canadian corporate tax rate.

It says investment-related gains in the year were driven in part by favourable fixed-income reinvestment as well as higher-than-expected returns from long-duration assets like private equity, infrastructure and timberland, partially offset by real estate.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2023.

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