Manulife Financial Corp. is finally closing the book on a long-held profit target, underscoring the company's effort to overcome market pressures since the Great Recession.
Canada's largest insurance company by assets said Thursday that it achieved an earnings goal that's been in its sights since 2010, posting just a bit more than $4-billion in adjusted "core" profits for 2016. Manulife introduced this non-standard measurement in 2012 to strip out accounting volatility and other exceptional items. The insurer says the metric better reflects underlying business performance, although some analysts and investors have taken issue with the transparency and usefulness of the metric.
Even with this personalized target, Manulife only narrowly topped its earnings goal. Story
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Debt-heavy Pengrowth Energy Corp. is in talks to sell approximately $500-million in Alberta oil and gas assets to Infor Acquisition Corp., the latest sign of financial companies stepping up for energy assets, according to people familiar with the matter. Story
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