great-west lifeco

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $30.31 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 951.5 million; Market cap: $29.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 4.1%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company. It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management. Power Financial owns 68.2% of Great-West.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2013, earnings rose 6.8%, to $521 million, or $0.55 a share, from $488 million, or $0.51, a year ago. On June 30, Great-West had $596.0 billion of assets under administration.

Earnings from the Canadian division, which supplies 54% of the total, rose 11.1%. Stronger sales of group policies offset lower demand for individual insurance. As well, the value of the assets this division manages rose, which pushed up its fee income.
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Great-West just closed its $1.75-billion purchase of Irish Life Group, Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider, with one million clients and $50 billion of assets under management. Great-West has a long history of operating in Ireland, which cuts this deal’s risk....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $31 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 951.4 million; Market cap: $29.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company after Manulife, with $581.9 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds and retirement planning and wealth management services. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PFC) owns 68.2% of Great-West.

The company expects to complete its $1.75- billion purchase of Irish Life Group in the next few weeks. This business is Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider.

Meanwhile, Great-West continues to benefit from rising equity markets, which have raised the value of the assets it manages. Mutual fund sales at U.S. subsidiary Putnam Investments are also improving.
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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD., $48.39, Toronto symbol L, is buying Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. (Toronto symbol SC), which operates over 1,240 drugstores across Canada. Under the deal, Shoppers investors can choose to receive $61.54 in cash or 1.29417 Loblaw common shares and $0.01 cash for each Shoppers share they hold. Loblaw will cap the cash portion, so Shoppers investors will probably wind up with $33.18 in cash plus 0.5965 of a Loblaw common share. Based on today’s share price, the deal is worth $12.5 billion. This is a big purchase for Loblaw, which has a market cap (or the value of all its outstanding shares) of $13.6 billion....

High-quality stocks like Great-West and IGM are a great way to diversify your Finance sector holdings beyond Canada’s big five banks. If you can accept the added risk, we also like Home Capital Group (see box).

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $31 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 951.4 million; Market cap: $29.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company after Manulife, with $581.9 billion of assets under administration....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $27 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 950.6 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend Yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s secondlargest insurance company after Manulife, with $545.8 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds and retirement planning and wealth management services. Power Financial Corp. (Toronto symbol PFC) owns 68.2% of Great-West.

Revenue fell 11.9%, from $33.9 billion in 2008 to $29.9 billion in 2011. That’s partly because low interest rates have cut the interest income the company earns on its investment portfolio. However, revenue rose 0.5%, to $30.1 billion, in 2012.


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GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $27 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 950.6 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend Yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s secondlargest insurance company after Manulife, with $545.8 billion of assets under administration....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $27.18 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 950.6 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.5%) has agreed to buy Irish Life Group Ltd., Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider.

Irish Life has over one million clients and $50 billion of assets under management.

The government of Ireland nationalized Irish Life in June 2012, after its former parent company, Irish Life & Permanent, ran into financial difficulty.
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GREAT-WEST LIFECO (Toronto symbol GWO; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $545.8 billion in assets under administration. It recently agreed to buy Irish Life Group Ltd., Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $27.18 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 950.6 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.5%) has agreed to buy Irish Life Group Ltd., Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider.

Irish Life has over one million clients and $50 billion of assets under management.

The government of Ireland nationalized Irish Life in June 2012, after its former parent company, Irish Life & Permanent, ran into financial difficulty.

Great-West will pay $1.75 billion for Irish Life when the deal closes in July 2013....