Great-West Lifeco Inc. reported a solid increase in its base earnings in the third quarter of 2023, as they rose from $809 million to $950 million.
The firm attributed the sharp increase primarily to business growth, as well as higher average equity markets and interest rates.
At the same time, Great-West Lifeco said that its net earnings attributable to common shareholders were $905 million in the third quarter, down from $987 million during the same period last year.
Meanwhile, base earnings from the company’s Canada segment sat at $296 million, down from $340 million from last year.
While base earnings in the company’s US segment increased slightly to $262 million. Great-West noted that the increase was primarily due to increased fees driven by higher average equity markets and transaction volumes, partially offset by higher expenses to support business growth.
Base earnings in the Europe segment increased by $3 million, reaching $206 million.
In the Capital and Risk Solutions segment, base earnings reached $198 million, representing a substantial $142 million increase compared to the same quarter last year.
The company said this was primarily due to business growth, the impact of higher interest rates and a provision for estimated claims related to Hurricane Ian of $128 million in 2022 that did not re-occur.
“Lifeco delivered excellent performance in the third quarter, continuing a strong earnings growth trajectory driven by disciplined capital allocation and execution of our strategies,” said Paul Mahon, President and CEO, Great-West Lifeco.
“These strong results benefit from recent strategic transactions, and operational improvements across our businesses. They are also supported by disciplined expense management as we focus on efficiency and effectiveness across the organization.”
