Desjardins targets premium growth outside Quebec

Citing premium growth outside Quebec, Desjardins Financial Security reported 94.1% growth in insurance sales since the beginning of 2006.
“At the end of [2006 Q3], insurance sales totaled Cdn$201 million, for a Cdn$97.4 million increase over the company’s results on Sept. 30, 2005,” Desjardins reported in a press release. “This excellent performance is due primarily to the signing of major group and business insurance contracts, particularly during the 2nd quarter of the year.”
Desjardins’ net income for 2006 Q3 stood at Cdn$39.4 million, which brings total net income recorded since the beginning of the year to Cdn$108.6 million.
Desjardins said its 2006 Q3 revenues are also up, totaling Cdn$2.367 billion compared with Cdn$2.313 billion in 2005.
“While sales and premiums are up in Quebec, it’s the other Canadian provinces that have reported the biggest increases, thus contributing to the company’s business growth in these markets,” Desjardins noted in a press release.
Commenting on the results, Desjardins Financial Security’s president and chief operating officer, Richard Fortier, said: “Desjardins Financial Security wants to double its market share outside Quebec by the end of 2008. Our third quarter results indicate we’re on the right track and that our efforts to achieve this goal are not interfering in any way with our growth in Quebec, where we continue to strengthen our leadership position quarter after quarter.”
At the end of the first nine months of 2006, net income for the group insurance sector, which includes insurance plans for groups and businesses, as well as group plans offered in financial institutions like the Desjardins caisses, stood at Cdn$78.2 million versus Cdn$79.1 million a year ago, the company reported.
“In group and business insurance, the enrolment of several groups with 1,000 and more insureds boosted sales dramatically to Cdn$174.5 million, more than doubling the figures (Cdn$78.4 million) recorded over the same period in 2005,” Desjardins said. “Sales outside Quebec alone totaled Cdn$138.6 million.”
Valued at a total of Cdn$906.4 million, 2006 Q3 premiums were Cdn$77.6 million higher than those collected over the same period in 2005, the company said.