Great Eastern’s quarterly profit drops 72% to S$102.9 million
The insurer attributed the decline to investment valuation movements and a one-off loss from selling part of its Indonesian subsidiary.
Great Eastern reported third-quarter net profit of S$102.9 million on Nov 2, down 72 per cent from S$372 million a year earlier. The Singapore insurer said market-driven changes in investment valuations and a partial subsidiary sale were the main reasons for the decline.
The sale of part of Great Eastern Life Indonesia to OCBC Indonesia was completed on Sep 1 to meet local regulatory requirements. Great Eastern lost control of the subsidiary and recorded a disposal loss of S$57.1 million.
A S$52.6 million reclassification gain in other comprehensive income largely offset that loss. The insurer said the transaction lowered net profit but had a broadly neutral effect on total comprehensive income.
New business embedded value increased 14 per cent to S$208.2 million in the quarter ended Sep 30, compared with S$182.2 million a year earlier. Total weighted new sales, however, declined 3 per cent to S$362.4 million from S$373.1 million.
For the first nine months, net profit slipped 1 per cent to S$952.4 million from S$965.7 million. Great Eastern said strong profit from its core insurance operations cushioned weaker investment earnings and the divestment loss.
Over the same nine-month period, new business embedded value rose 23 per cent, while total weighted new sales increased 9 per cent. The group attributed the faster embedded-value growth to a more favourable, diversified product mix. It expects investment conditions to remain challenging over the near-to-medium term because of geopolitical uncertainty and inflationary pressures.
