An expansion into the U.K. market led to a 67.3% jump in revenue for this company during the most-recent quarter.

The transaction should reduce the firm’s reliance on the North American market and support its solid dividend.

Meanwhile the stock trades at just 14.8 times the company’s 2022 earnings forecast.

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INTACT FINANCIAL CORP. (Toronto symbol IFC; www.intactfc.com) gives you exposure to Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance.

Canada’s banking regulator—the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OFSI)—has lifted the restrictions on capital distributions it placed on banks and insurers in March 2020 due to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

As a result, Intact will raise your quarterly dividend by 9.6%. Starting with the December 2021 payment, investors received $0.91 a share instead of $0.83. The new annual rate of $3.64 yields 2.2%. With this increase, Intact has now raised the annual dividend rate each year for the past 16 years.

The company completed its purchase of U.K. property and casualty insurer RSA Insurance on June 1, 2021. The acquisition was in partnership with Tryg A/S, one of the leading non-life insurers in Scandinavia. The partners paid $12.3 billion for RSA—$5.1 billion from Intact and $7.2 billion from Tryg. Intact took RSA’s Canadian business as well as its U.K. and international division. Tryg now owns RSA’s operations in Sweden and Norway.

As part of the deal, the two companies announced on June 11 that they had agreed to sell Codan Forsikring A/S, RSA’s Danish business, for $2.52 billion, to Alm. Brand A/S Group. Intact’s 50% share is worth $1.26 billion.

Dividend Stocks: Digital platforms should help cut costs

“Hard market conditions” also played a role. That’s when demand for insurance is high, and companies like Intact can enforce stricter rules about what kind of risks they will insure. This generally means more profitable policies.

Meanwhile, digital platforms are serving Intact’s customers well through the pandemic crisis. This includes 24/7 access to insurance policy documents, billing statements, claims information, and so on. The number of customers connecting to its digital platforms has more than doubled.

In fact, close to 40% of eligible auto claims are being digitally appraised through photos submitted on the company’s website and mobile app.

In the second quarter ended September 30, 2021, the insurer collected a total of $5.246 billion in premiums, up 67.3% from the $3.136 billion in premiums a year earlier. Earnings before unusual items dipped 11.7% to $295 million from $334 million. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 28.8%, to $1.60 from $2.25.

Intact will probably earn $11.09 a share in 2022, and the stock trades at a reasonable 14.9 times that forecast.

Recommendation in Dividend Advisor: Intact Financial Corp. is a buy.