Sun Life Financial Inc. reported second-quarter underlying net income of C$729 million, or C$1.20 per share, compared with C$689 million, or C$1.12 per share, in the prior-year period.

The S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus normalized EPS estimate for the quarter was C$1.15.

Reported net income for the period was C$706 million, or C$1.16 per share, versus C$574 million, or 93 Canadian cents per share, in the 2017 second quarter.

Net premium revenue increased to C$4.32 billion from C$3.92 billion in the year-ago period.

Underlying net income for the asset management business segment was C$216 million, a climb from C$199 million in the year-ago quarter.

The Sun Life board authorized the purchase of up to 14 million common shares through a new normal course issuer bid scheduled to be in place from Aug. 14 until Aug. 13, 2019.