Q1 snap: good EPS but some quality questions

PFG delivered a good operating result as revenues that were slightly above consensus were assisted by lower costs resulting in a ~4% EPS beat. RIS Spread and Corporate delivered better than expected normalised earnings while RIS Fee and PGI were slightly weaker. However, the upside in RIS Spread came partly from favourable mortality, which can be volatile from quarter to quarter. Net cashflows were positive in RIS Fee but negative in PGI. The buyback was very active in the quarter, which assisted the EPS and ROE numbers. Overall, this looks like a reasonable result but with much of the operational upside coming from the Corporate line and the volatile RIS Spread segment, it will be useful to gain some clarity on the sustainability of those from the conference call.