Primerica Inc. (PRI—NYSE) recently posted quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, thanks to healthy growth in the company’s term life segment.
In the quarter ended March 31, the financial services provider cleared a profit of $45.2 million, or 92 cents a share, topping the average prediction of 91 cents put forth by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters. Quarterly revenue totaled $363.0 million, up 5 percent from a year ago.
“We have begun 2016 with strong distribution growth,” said Glenn Williams, Chief Executive Officer. “The size of our life insurance licensed salesforce grew 10 percent, which drove 19 percent growth in life insurance policies issued versus the first quarter a year ago.”
Management primarily attributed the growth to a 13 percent increase in net premiums and a 28 percent increase in term life earnings before income taxes (EBIT) from a year ago. In the investment and savings product (ISP) segment, the company felt the pressure of a volatile market, which led to a 10 percent year-over-year decline in EBIT.
