A cost-effective deal, in terms of sale of its 37 percent stake in CI Financial Income Fund, enabled Sun Life Financial Inc post a fourth-quarter profit which though, when compared to the same-quarter last year figures, indicates a 77 percent drop.

The Toronto-based third-biggest Canadian insurance company, Sun Life, said in a statement that its net income for the fourth quarter fell to C$129 million, or 23 cents per share, from the year before net income of C$555 million, or 97 cents.

However, if the insurer's C$825 gain from the CI Financial stake sale is excluded, the fourth-quarter operating loss of the company stood at C$696 million, or C$1.25 per share. As per Reuters' estimates, analysts expected the loss of the company to be 4 cents.

Some big write-downs that hit Sun Life in the third quarter included a C$636 million blow from the company's assets in three recession-plagued US companies: Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers, and American International Group. The company also took a C$365 million charge from asset impairments.

The year-on-year revenue figures for the fourth quarter also revealed a 13 percent drop to C$4.70 billion from C$5.40 billion. While the C$2.05 billion contribution from Sun Life Canada fell from the year earlier C$2.61 billion; the C$587 million contribution from Sun Life's US division fell from C$1.63 billion the year before.