Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. said second quarter profit jumped 15% to $39.9 million, while premium income gained increased 27% to of $657.6 million.

The Quebec City-based life insurer, fifth-largest in Canada, said earnings per share (diluted) for the three months ended June 30 were $1.00. A year ago Industrial Alliance reported net income of $34.7 million or 88¢ a share. Premium income last year at this time was $519.4 million.

“The excellent premium growth is the result of a strong increase in sales in most lines of business, including the Individual Insurance sector, which experienced a fourth consecutive quarter of growth, when compared to the corresponding quarters the previous year,” the company said in a release. “The wealth management sector is also going through a resurgent period in terms of sales, particularly for segregated fund products.”

Return on equity was 14.7% for the quarter (annualized) vs 15.1% a year ago, but within the company’s 13% to 15% target range.

Industrial Alliance said it was raising its quarterly dividend by 3¢ to 22¢ per common share, a 16% increase. It is the second dividend increase by the company in less than a year.

“This is indeed a strong quarter all around,” said president and CEO Yvon Charest. “We have had good top line momentum in most of our business segments and our disciplined approach to pricing, high-quality investment portfolio as well as management’s philosophy of embedding profits on current sales to maximize long-term shareholder value have once again delivered a high and stable ROE. Our well-executed multi- channel distribution strategy and the unrelenting desire of the Company to continue to expand all across Canada, in all lines of business, should help us to take advantage of the current industry consolidation to grow our business.”