Canadian insurer Sun Life beats profit estimates on strong insurance sales

Aug 8 (Reuters) – Canada’s Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by its acquisition of dental benefits provider DentaQuest and strong insurance sales at home.

Sunlife has been diversifying its business across the globe and expanded its U.S. footprint with the acquisition of DentaQuest last year. At home, the company is buying Canadian virtual healthcare and wellness platform Dialogue.

Chief Executive Officer Kevin Strain said health and protection sales growth were strong in the quarter and its investment in Dialogue would help the Toronto-based company play a large role in Canada’s health ecosystem.

Strain said there was momentum from many of its recent acquisitions and strategic partnerships, including DentaQuest and its partnership with Dah Sing Bank in Hong Kong.

“The diversification story is really a long-term impact story… in the long run, what it means is high-quality earnings,” Morningstar analyst Suryansh Sharma said.

The insurance and asset management company said underlying earnings from its group insurance segment surged 51% while individual insurance business rose 23% for the second quarter ended June 30.

Earnings from wealth and asset management segment fell 1% largely due to higher expenses and lower fee-based earnings.

The insurer posted underlying net income of C$920 million ($685.5 million), or C$1.57 per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with C$808 million, or C$1.38 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had forecast C$1.55 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

Reported net income, however, fell 29% to $248 million, hurt by fair value changes in its ownership of some assets and losses from real estate investments.

($1 = 1.3420 Canadian dollars)

Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker

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