Great-West Lifeco Inc. GWO-T says earnings rose in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier as its diversified portfolio performed well despite challenging market conditions.
The Winnipeg-based insurer says it had base earnings of $892-million, or 96 cents per share, compared with earnings of $825-million or 89 cents per share last year.
Net earnings came in at $1.03-billion, or $1.10, compared with $765-million or 82 cents per share a year earlier.
The company says that given the results, it has increased its common shareholder dividend by six per cent to 52 cents per share.
Scotiabank analyst Meny Grauman says the results beat expectations by nine per cent thanks in part to policyholder yield enhancement, along with an overall solid performance.
Great-West says it had consolidated assets of $701-billion and assets under administration of $2.5-trillion at the end of 2022, an increase of 11 per cent and nine per cent from a year earlier.