First dividend increase from Sun-Life Financial since 2008

“Sun Life Financial Inc.’s profits climbed slightly in the first quarter and the insurer increased its dividend for the first time since before the financial crisis.

The Toronto-based company’s profit was $441-million, or 72 cents a share, in the quarter ended March 31. That compared with $400-million, or 65 cents, in the same time in 2014.

Sun Life, which is now 150 years old, said it would boost its quarterly dividend by 6 per cent, or two cents, to 38 cents a common share. The company never trimmed its dividend during the financial turmoil and this is the first dividend increase since early 2008. The increase was based on the company’s solid profits and business momentum, Sun Life’s chief executive officer Dean Connor said in a statement,” writes Jacqueline Nelson for The Globe and Mail on Tuesday, May.5, 2015.

Nelson continued, “Sun Life calculates its performance with an “underlying” profit figure, used to show results without the impact of such items as interest rates, equity-market movements and some other considerations. On that basis, the insurer earned $516-million or 84 cents a share, compared with $440-million, or 72 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts estimates were for 78 cents a share.”

Read the full article here.

Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS

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