Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE:MFC) stock rose 4.21% (As on May 9, 11:33:52 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company reported a jump in first-quarter profit, driven by robust performance in its Asia unit. The company’s Asia business has benefited from mainland Chinese visitors returning to Hong Kong after pandemic restrictions were lifted. Annualized premium equivalent (APE), a key sales metric, jumped 21% in the quarter, driven by a 13% rise in Manulife’s Asia unit and a 54% jump in its Canadian business. Total investment income at Manulife came in at $4.79-billion in the quarter, compared with $5.46-billion last year. The country’s largest insurer posted core earnings of $1.75-billion, in the three months ended March 31, compared with $1.53 billion, a year earlier. The insurance giant says its net income attributed to shareholders for the quarter ending March 31 was $866 million, down from $1.4 billion in the same quarter last year. It says the results include the $800 million impact from a $13-billion reinsurance deal with Global Atlantic that it says included the largest long-term care reinsurance deal in history.

MFC in the first quarter of FY 24 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 94 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 91 cents, according to LSEG data. The firm’s global wealth and asset management business posted a 25% rise in core earnings to $357 million, while net inflows were up from $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2023 to $6.7 billion in Q1, 2024. Global WAM saw strong net inflows of $6.7 billion, and the capital position remains robust with a LICAT ratio of 138%.

Moreover, for the WAM unit were the closing of a $1.0 billion institutional fund – Manulife Capital Partners VII. The fund will invest in U.S. middle market companies across multiple industries, focusing on growth and high-yield opportunities. The WAM unit’s retirement net inflows of $3.2 billion were up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, reflecting higher new retirement plan sales across the firm’s three geographies. Retail net inflows of $1.7 billion increased from $0.8 billion, driven by increased demand for investment products amid equity market recovery and improved investor sentiment. Institutional Asset Management net inflows of $1.8 were down though compared with $2.5 billion a year earlier as higher fixed income mandates sales and lower money market redemptions were more than offset by higher redemptions in fixed income and equity mandates.