The Empire Life Insurance Company reported yearend results that include a 15% increase in total assets under administration over 2004 at its annual general meeting held in Toronto today.

“This past year has been one of exciting growth of our company,” says Doug Hogeboom, president and CEO. “We achieved record levels in segregated fund net sales, and in sales of our individual life insurance and small group benefit products. Once again, we believe that our reputation for service response and strong business relationships with our distribution partners have been key factors in this success.”

Total AUA grew to $5.8 billion, from $5 billion in 2004. For the third consecutive year, segregated fund assets experienced double-digit growth, increasing by 29%. General fund assets increased 5% due to continued growth of the individual life insurance product line.

Despite total premium revenue rising by 14% over 2004, overall net income from the company’s three major product lines of wealth management, individual insurance and employee benefits declined relative to 2004. This was due to higher reserve strengthening in the individual insurance product line and increased new business strain in both the individual insurance and wealth management product lines. As a result, shareholders’ net income was $30.6 million in 2005, compared with $35.1 million in 2004.