Manulife CEO to step down in May 2009
Shares of Manulife Financial Corp. traded lower on Thursday after the insurance and investment firm reported lower first-quarter earnings and said its top executive will retire next year.
The company said company said it made $869 million, or 57 cents a share, down from $986 million, or 63 cents a share, in the same quarter of last year.
Manulife said sharp declines in global equity markets, particularly in the U.S. and Asia, reduced reported earnings in the first quarter of this year by $265 million or 18 cents per share.
Investors sent shares of the firm down by $1.97, or five per cent, to $36.90 on the TSX.
"Except for the decline in equity markets, our quarter was highly satisfactory", said Dominic D'Alessandro, Manulife's president and CEO, in a release.
The company also said D'Alessandro plans to step down from his role at the firm's next annual meeting in May 2009.
"The board was aware of the possibility that Dominic could elect to retire at the end of this year and so it has, for the past few years, been very focused on the critical issue of CEO succession," said Manulife chair Arthur Sawchuk. "We expect to announce the CEO-designate by the end of this year."
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