In the fourth quarter of 2020, Intact Financial Corporation saw the earnings from its investments soar by 60 per cent versus the same quarter of 2019.  

Over the full year 2020, this increase is 32 per cent compared with 2019.  

In 2021, Intact expects earnings to be 10 per cent above the level reached in 2020.  

The performance of this segment, which includes Intact's investments in brokerage firms as well as in other types of businesses, such as the wholesaler Frank Cowan and the cleanup and recovery company On Side Restoration, was better than expected in 2020. Chief Financial Officer Louis Marcotte shared the results during a conference call with financial analysts held after the insurer released its financial results for Q4 2020.  

Marcotte attributes this performance to four factors: Solid organic growth, disciplined expense management, higher variable commission, and the insurer’s continuing M&A. “The additions of On Side and Frank Cowan also had a meaningful, positive impact on this earning stream,” he says.  

Why did the insurer set a low target of 10 per cent growth in earnings linked to distribution in 2021? Marcotte points out that the comparison year, namely 2020 as a whole, is already strong. However, he says that Intact is somewhat ahead of schedule in terms of income compared with the same time last year.  

"Next year, it’s a share of mostly organic on the part of the brokers growing. So if you take the 10 per cent, I would say probably 40 per cent of it is the organic growth of the brokers. Another 40 per cent would be the Frank Cowan and On Side growing. And then the rest would be a bit of M&A activity that will flow in, if I split it out… So it’s mostly organic. There is some M&A momentum coming in, but mostly, it’s driven by our brokers’ growth as well as the addition of On Side and Frank Cowan,” he explains.