Great-West Lifeco Inc. is reporting stronger profit for the third-quarter ended September 30. The insurer said earnings growth was help by its acquisition of Canada Life Financial Corp. earlier this year.

The company says net income rose to $339 million, or 73.2¢ per diluted share after restructuring costs, from $247 million, or 64.6¢ per share, a year ago.

Earnings per share before restructuring costs were 77.1¢, up from 65.3¢.

Great-West bought Canada Life for $7.2 billion in a deal that closed in July.

Great-West said the Canada Life acquisition contributed about 4.5¢ a share to Q3 profit.

Total premiums and deposits during the quarter rose to $7.2 billion from $6.8 billion, while total assets under administration climbed to $157.4 billion from $94.4 billion.

Return on equity slipped to 21.6% for the 12 months ended September 30, compared with 22.3% in the previous year.