Manulife reports 3Q net income of $746 million

Manulife Financial Corporation has reported a shareholders’ net income of $746 million for the third quarter of 2005, a 5% increase over a year earlier. “Excluding a charge related to Hurricane Katrina and a gain on recognition of future tax assets in Japan Division, shareholders’ net income would have been $879 million, a 23% increase over one year ago,” the company said in a release.Included in the financial results for the third quarter of 2005 were charges associated with Hurricane Katrina amounting to $198 million (US$165 million), incurred in the reinsurance division, and a gain of $65 million due to the recognition of future tax assets in the Japan Division, the company reported. “The solid results reported in the third quarter reflect the benefits of our diversification and scale,” Dominic D’Alessandro, the president and CEO of Manulife Financial, said. “Despite the charges recorded for Hurricane Katrina, we have again reported strong sales and strong earnings. I am particularly pleased by the sales levels achieved across our wealth management businesses and in our U.S. individual insurance operations.”Total premiums and deposits for the third quarter reached a record level of $15.7 billion an increase of $2.2 billion above the third quarter of 2004, despite the $1.1-billion negative impact of currency exchange rates, the company said. “Contributing to this result were exceptional wealth management sales, which increased 24% over last year, including record sales levels for U.S. variable annuities.”