05:24 PM EST, 11/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Manulife Financial ( MFC ) edged up in after-hours New York trading after the company on Wednesday reported higher third-quarter core earnings.

Core earnings rose 4% to $1.83 billion, or $1.00 per core share, from $1.74 billion, or $0.92, in the year-prior quarter. The increase reflected strong business growth led by Global Wealth and Asset Management and Asia, and a lower net charge in the provision for Expected Credit Loss (ECL).

Net income attributed to shareholders rose to $1.8 billion, or $1.00 per share, up from $1.0 billion, or $0.52.

The company recorded Global Wealth and Asset Management net inflows of $5.2 billion, a turnaround from net outflows of $0.8 billion last year, while annualized premium equivalent sales were up 40%.

"We have made progress on our financial targets unveiled at our Investor Day this year," said Colin Simpson, chief financial officer. "Core ROE of 16.6% reflects strong business performance and disciplined capital allocation. We remain diligent in our expense management with 45% expense efficiency ratio on a year-to-date basis, in-line with our medium-term target of less than 45%."

The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.40, on December 19.

Manulife shares were last seen up US$0.05 to US$31.35 after hours. They closed up $2.08 to $43.57 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.