iA Financial boosts earnings per share in latest financial results
iA Financial Group reported higher net income attributable to common shareholders as well as higher earnings per common share for the second quarter.
“Our strong second-quarter results speak to the success of our sustainable growth strategy,” said Denis Ricard, president and CEO of iA Financial Group. “The 17% increase in earnings per share over 12 months illustrates our solid performance and our profit-generating capacity. These factors, combined with others such as our financial strength and the diversification of our operations, led Standard & Poor’s to raise our credit ratings in July.”
Q2 EPS higher than year ago
Specifically, iA Financial reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $181.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared with $159.1 million the same time last year. Earnings per common share stood at $1.69 for Q2, compared with $1.44 a year earlier.
“We’re also happy with our business growth particularly in the United States,” said Ricard. “Our two U.S. divisions continue to show good momentum, which solidifies our desire to grow that market. We’re also continuing to see good results for segregated fund sales in Canada, where we’re still ranked number one in net sales. At the same time, our retail insurance sales are improving, and are slightly higher than last year’s second-quarter results.”
Growth stronger in all business lines
There was a 13 per-cent increase in expected profit on in-force and experience gains of 13 per cent to $194.4 million over the same quarter last year. The company said this reflected growth in all lines of business (individual insurance, individual wealth management, group insurance, group savings and retirement and U.S. operations). When it came to group insurance and U.S. operations, growth exceeded 30 per cent.
Assets under management and administration of $186.5 billion were up 3 per cent quarter-over-quarter and 5 per cent year-over-year owing to market growth and the influx of new assets.
iA’s solvency ratio was 125% at June 30, 2019, compared with 123% at the end of the previous quarter and 122% a year earlier, above the minimum required by regulators.