CA - Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWLIF) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

2024-05-05 08:25:22 ET

P/F Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWLIF)

Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call

May 2 2024 3:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Paul Mahon - President and Chief Executive Officer

Ed Murphy - President and CEO, Empower

Jon Nielsen - EVP and Chief Financial Officer

Fabrice Morin - President and Chief Operating Officer, Canada

Linda Kerrigan - SVP and Appointed Actuary

Jeff Poulin - EVP, Reinsurance

Conference Call Participants

Meny Grauman - Scotiabank

Paul Holden - CIBC World Markets

Tom MacKinnon - BMO Capital Markets

Doug Young - Desjardins Capital Markets

Nigel D’Souza - Veritas Investment Research

Presentation

Operator

Thank you for standing by, this is the conference operator. Welcome to the Great-West Lifeco’s First Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity for analysts to ask questions. [Operator Instructions].

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Paul Mahon, President and CEO of Great-West Lifeco. Please go ahead.

Paul Mahon

Thanks, Galene. Good afternoon and welcome to Great-West Lifeco's First Quarter 2024 conference call. Joining me on today's call and to deliver parts of the formal presentation are Ed Murphy, President and CEO of Empower; and Jon Nielsen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. As I look around the table here today, there are three faces that are missing from the last quarter, Garry MacNicholas, retiring after 43 years, Jeff Macoun, retiring after 40 years, and Arshil Jamal, retiring after 25 years.

I know they are listening in as keenly interested investors and want to thank them for their important contributions over so many years. I also want to welcome a few officers who have not participated in past calls with analysts and investors. Jon Nielsen of note as our Lifeco CFO; Fabrice Morin as President of our Canadian operations, Jeff Poulin who leads our Capital and Risk Solutions business, and also Linda Kerrigan, our Appointed Actuary. They, along with other officers that you've heard from before, will be available to answer your questions.

I'll now draw your attention to our cautionary notes regarding forward-looking information and non-GAAP financial measures and ratios, which is found on Slide 2. These cautionary notes apply to the information we'll discuss during the call.

Please turn to Slide 5. I'm pleased to share that we've had a great start to the year, building on our momentum from 2023. Together, our teams delivered a third consecutive quarter of record base earnings, and for the first time, we exceeded $1 billion in base earnings. Net earnings were also over $1 billion this quarter. These results reflect the intentional and disciplined work we've done to strengthen and reposition the portfolio for sustainable growth.

We've seen excellent performance across all four of our operating segments, each of which have clear business strategies to unlock value and drive growth today and over the longer term. In the U.S., the execution of our strategy continues to deliver results. ...

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