Manulife (MFC) Q2 Earnings Rise Y/Y, Asia Business Solid
Manulife Financial Corporation MFC delivered second-quarter 2020 core earnings of $1.2 billion (C$1.6 billion), up 5% year over year. This upside was driven by encouraging policyholder experience, favorable impact of markets on seed money investments in segregated funds and mutual funds, and in-force business growth in Asia.
New business value (NBV) in the reported quarter was $277 million (C$384 million), down 22% year over year, attributable to COVID-19 related impacts.
Annualized premium equivalent (APE) sales decreased 15% year over year to $0.9 billion (C$1.2 billion), attributable to lower sales in Asia, Canada and U.S. segments.
Expense efficiency ratio improved 360 basis points (bps) to 48.9%.
As of Jun 30, 2020, Manulife Financial’s financial leverage ratio improved 40 bps year over year to 26%.
Wealth and asset management assets under management and administration were $509.8 billion (C$696.9 billion), up 6.7% year over year. Wealth and Asset Management business generated net inflows of $3.7 billion (C$5.1 billion), driven by positive contributions from institutional business.
Core return on equity, measuring the company’s profitability, contracted 50 bps year over year to 12.2%.
Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) ratio was 155% as of Jun 30, 2019, up from 144% as of Jun 30, 2019.
Manulife Financial Corp Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Manulife Financial Corp price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Manulife Financial Corp Quote
Segmental Performance
Global Wealth and Asset Management division’s core earnings came in at $172 million (C$238 million), down 1.7% year over year.
Asia division’s core earnings totaled $353 million (C$489 million), up 3.8% year over year. NBV decreased 21%, primarily due to a decrease in APE sales in Hong Kong, Japan and Asia Other, and a decline in interest rates in Hong Kong, partially offset by a more favorable business mix in Asia Other. APE sales decreased 17% mainly due to the adverse impact of COVID-19.
Manulife Financial’s Canada division core earnings of $247 million (C$342 million) were up 9.6% year over year. NBV declined 29% year over year largely due to lower sales volumes. APE sales decreased 18%, primarily due to variability in the large-case group insurance market.
The U.S. division reported core earnings of $434.2 million (C$602 million), up 36.5% year over year. NBV dropped 22%, primarily due to the impact of lower interest rates and lower sales due to COVID-19. APE sales decreased 3% mainly due to the adverse impact of COVID-19.
Zacks Rank
Manulife Financial currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Performance of Other Life Insurers
Of the life insurance industry players that have reported second-quarter results so far, Reinsurance Group of America RGA and Voya Financial VOYA beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings while Lincoln National Corporation LNC missed expectations.
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