Strong sales at its home base here and across the Causeway helped to lift first-quarter earnings at insurer Great Eastern.
Net profit rose 12 per cent to $231.6 million for the three months to March 31, due largely to better performance, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia.
Its profit from the insurance unit rose 4 per cent to $192.1 million, thanks to a 12 per cent hike in total weighted new sales to $225.9 million.
Great Eastern said sales in Singapore went up 18 per cent to $157.2 million in the quarter, while sales in Malaysia rose 5 per cent to $61 million.
A multi-channel strategy adopted to distribute investment and protection products led to the broad-based growth here.
A one-off gain of $31.9 million from the paring of its stake from 50 per cent to 25 per cent in its China joint venture, Great Eastern Life Assurance China, also boosted earnings.
But the divestment meant that contributions in China were lower, which, in turn, led to a fall in the insurer's aggregated sales from emerging markets.
Total weighted new sales from China, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam fell to $7.7 million, from $10 million a year ago.
New business embedded value, an industry measure of long-term economic profitability, increased 11 per cent to $89.2 million due to the better sales performance.
Earnings per share stood at 49 cents at the end of March, up from 44 cents in the year-ago period. Net asset value per share rose to $11.18 at the end of March from $10.73 at the end of December.
Chief executive Chris Wei said in a statement yesterday: "Efforts to strengthen our professional advisory force and enhance the customer experience across every touch point, both grounded in our organisational purpose as a life company, proved to be the key ingredients of our success.
"This has been supplemented with the launch of innovative new products that aim to meet consumer needs in retirement, health care and protection."
Brokerage firm OSK DMG kept its buy rating on Great Eastern in a report yesterday.
"Despite a spate of mergers and acquisitions in Malaysia last year, including AIA's acquisition of ING-Malaysia's life insurance operation, Great Eastern continues to maintain its dominant position in Singapore and Malaysia through product innovation and a well-diversified distribution network," it stated.
The insurer has not declared an interim dividend.
Great Eastern shares closed up six cents at $18.73 yesterday.
It reported its earnings before markets opened.
This article was published on April 30 in The Straits Times.
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