Great-West Lifeco says Q2 net earnings down 11% but base earnings hit record high

Great-West Lifeco Inc. says its second-quarter net earnings dropped 11% from a year ago but its base earnings reached a record high.

The Winnipeg-based insurance company says its net earnings for the period ended June 30 amounted to $894 million while its base earnings totalled more than $1.1 billion.

INet earnings from continued operations linked to Canada reached $255 million compared with $373 million a year before. But the insurer saw growth in group benefits, driven by long-term disability in Canada.

Great-West Lifeco had $3.3 trillion in assets under administration as of June 30, compared to $2.9 trillion at the same time last year. There was 11% growth in retirement assets and 16% growth in wealth assets.

By comparison, the U.S. part of its business had net earnings from continued operations of $305 million compared with $281 million a year prior.

The European portion totalled $126 million compared with $231 million a year before.

The results came as Great-West Lifeco approved a quarterly dividend of 61 cents per share.