Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC) is raising its dividend for the first time in five years after booking a second-quarter profit that more than tripled.
The insurance company reported that net income attributed to shareholders more than tripled to $943 million, or 49 cents per share as the growth of its insurance operations in Asia continued to escalate and its North American mutual fund business improved.
A year ago, the insurance company reported net income of $259 million or 12 cents per share.
Manulife also raised its quarterly dividend 2.5 cents to 15.5 cents per common share.
That’s the first increase since August 2009 when the company halved its dividend payout to 13 cents per share – a move it said would save $800 million a year.
At that time, Manulife had seen its results erode on stock market weakness.