This article was originally published on Friday, 25 October 2019 at 9:00 A.M. SGT; it has since been updated with more details.
Great Eastern Holdings reported Friday its third quarter net profit fell 4 percent on-year to S$205.1 million as investment income fell.
Investment income fell 2 percent on-year in the quarter to S$744.9 million on lower dividend income, offset by higher interest income, the filing said.
Operating profit from the insurance business rose 24 percent on-year to S$179 million on improved contributions from the Singapore and Malaysia businesses, while the insurance business posted a non-operating loss of S$31.8 million, swinging from a year-ago profit of S$20.6 million, the insurer said in a filing to SGX.
“Lower non-operating profit was due to higher valuation of insurance contract liabilities as a result of a decline in the discount rate used to value these liabilities,” Great Eastern said.
Total weighted new sales (TWNS) in the quarter fell 9 percent on-year to S$318.1 million, while new business embedded value (NBEV) rose 30 percent on-year to S$163.3 million, the insurer said. Gross premiums fell 13 percent on-year to S$3.07 billion, the filing said.
The company’s product management strategy to “optimize” the product mix led to the TWNS fall, while pushing up NBEV, the filing said.
