Manulife Financial Corp. today report a big jump in third quarter profit due to part to the acquisition of John Hancock Financial Services.

Net income for the quarter ended September 30 rose 81% to $717 million or 88¢ a share, up from $396 million, or 85¢ a share, a year earlier.

Manulife said John Hancock, which it acquired earlier this year, contributed about $235 million to earnings in the quarter.

“We are extremely pleased with how Manulife and John Hancock are coming together following the closing of our merger on April 28th,” said Dominic D’Alessandro, president and CEO of Manulife, in a release.

Manulife said excluding the impact of integration costs incurred in the quarter of 2.5¢ per share and the impact of the appreciation of the Canadian dollar of 2.5¢per share, earnings per share would have increased 10% from the prior year to 93¢.

Return on common shareholders’ equity for the quarter was 12.0%, reflecting the impact of the larger capital base following the merger of Manulife Financial and John Hancock.

Total premiums and deposits for the third quarter were $13.6 billion, $6.1 billion higher than reported in the third quarter of 2003 and $0.6 billion higher than the preceding quarter.

Excluding the impact of John Hancock, premiums and deposits increased by $2.0 billion or 27%from the prior year reflecting sales growth in North American insurance operations and strong wealth management deposits in Canada, the United States and Japan.

Funds under management were $346.5 billion as at September 30, compared to $148.5 billion as at September 30, 2003. This increase was primarily driven by the acquisition of John Hancock. Strong net cash flows in the North American wealth management businesses also contributed to the increase.