Manulife Financial (MFC) Tops Q3 EPS by 23c

Manulife Financial (NYSE: MFC) reported Q3 EPS of $0.73, $0.23 better than the analyst estimate of $0.50.

• Net income attributed to shareholders of $2.1 billion in 3Q20, up $1.3 billion from 3Q19
• Core earnings1 of $1.5 billion in 3Q20, down 6%2 from 3Q19
• Strong LICAT ratio3 of 155%
• Core ROE1 of 11.4% and ROE of 16.4% in 3Q20
• NBV1 of $460 million in 3Q20, down 14% from 3Q19
• APE sales1 of $1.4 billion in 3Q20, down 2% from 3Q19
• Global WAM net outflows1 of $2.2 billion in 3Q20 compared with net outflows of $4.4 billion in 3Q19
• The impact to net income of the annual actuarial review was a net charge of $198 million

"While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt economies worldwide, the overall demand for our products was robust. Our strong digital capabilities have enabled us to fulfill customers' insurance and wealth management needs across all of our markets globally. The global diversity of our franchise, strength of our offerings, and quality of our distribution capabilities were evident in Manulife's third quarter APE sales, which were down only 2% from the prior year quarter, despite the challenging environment. In addition, we delivered core earnings of $1.5 billion and net income of $2.1 billion for the quarter, which reflects the resilience of our business," said Manulife President & Chief Executive Officer Roy Gori.

"I am confident that Manulife is well positioned to navigate the challenges of the current environment. Our balance sheet and capital levels are strong and we continue to execute on our five priorities.4 We've made significant progress on our portfolio optimization and expense efficiency objectives, whilst accelerating growth in our highest potential businesses, notably Asia and Global WAM. Our efforts to enhance our digital capabilities over the last few years have enabled us to pivot quickly in the current environment, and position us well to serve our customers in a more digitally enabled world," added Mr. Gori.

Phil Witherington, Chief Financial Officer, said, "Our LICAT ratio of 155% is strong and we continue to have substantial financial flexibility. We released over $450 million of incremental capital during the quarter by executing a reinsurance agreement in the U.S., bringing the cumulative capital benefits released from our legacy businesses through portfolio optimization activities to $5.8 billion since 2018."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Manulife Financial (MFC) click here.

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