KUALA LUMPUR: LPI Capital Bhd
anticipates that the fourth quarter of the year will remain challenging, and the group will closely monitor both international and local developments that could impact its prospects.
“Lonpac Insurance Bhd(Lonpac)’s distribution channels will be further enhanced to tap into the insurance needs of the increased domestic and foreign direct investments to drive sustainable business growth.
“Meanwhile, the LPI Group recognises the need to future-proof its workforce by enhancing skills and boosting employee value propositions to attract and retain talents. Emerging technologies will be further explored to strengthen its operational effectiveness and efficiency in order to adapt to evolving business needs,” LPI said in a statement.
For the quarter ended Sept 30 (3Q24), LPI’s net profit rose 26.6% to RM123.9mil, or earnings per share of 31.11 sen compared with RM97.9mil, or 24.58 sen in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter rose marginally to RM499.8mil against RM498.4mil last year.
LPI said the growth in revenue was largely contributed by its investment holding segment, which increased to RM21.9mil as compared to RM19.5mil in 3Q23, contributed by higher tax-exempt dividend income received from its equity investments.
The general insurance segment recorded a marginally lower revenue of RM477.9mil as compared to RM478.9mil reported in the previous corresponding quarter mainly due to lower insurance revenue.
LPI said the lower insurance revenue was caused by the currency translation of its Singapore operation arising from the strengthening of ringgit.
Lonpac, the group’s wholly-owned insurance subsidiary, posted a pre-tax profit of RM130.2mil in 3Q24, representing an impressive 28.3% year-on-year (YoY) increase from RM101.5mil.
It said the higher profit of Lonpac was contributed mainly by higher Insurance Service Result reported as compared to 3Q23.
Lonpac’s Insurance Service Result grew 25.9% YoY to RM111.4mil from RM88.5mil.
In the first nine months (9M24), it posted a net profit of RM303.2mil, up 29% from RM235.4mil last year while revenue climbed 1.05% to RM1.44bil against RM1.42mil year ago.
The net return on equity of LPI Group increased to 12.9% from 10.9% while earnings per Share was higher at 76.12 sen from 59.03 sen in 9M23.
