Manulife core profit beats estimates as asset management, new business grow

(Reuters) - Manulife Financial on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter core earnings that beat analysts' expectations as new businesses and wealth and asset management profit growth helped offset declines in Canada and the United States.

Canada's biggest life insurer reported core earnings of C$1.7 billion ($1.34 billion), or 84 Canadian cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, from C$1.47 billion, or 74 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 82 Canadian cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Reported net income attributable to shareholders climbed to C$2.1 billion from C$1.78 billion a year earlier.

($1 = 1.2670 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru and Nichola Saminather in Toronto; Editing by Leslie Adler)