KUALA LUMPUR: Moving forward into 2025, LPI Capital Bhd
expects new cross-selling opportunities following its inclusion into the Public Bank corporate family, and will be developing products to cater for the customers' insurance needs.
In additional, the insurer said it will continue to emphasis competing for new business, particularly for infrastructure projects and new foreign investment.
"Plans are also underway to further automate processes and enhance the group’s distribution channels.
"The group will continue to work on developing more green insurance solutions that are tailored for environmentally friendly and sustainability-focused assets," it said in a statement.
This comes following a weaker fourth quarter in 2024 (4Q24), where the group experienced a fair value loss in investments, despite a strong underwriting performance.
During the quarter under review, LPI recorded a net profit of RM73.86mil, down from RM78.58mil in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share dipped to 18.54 sen from 19.72 sen in the comparative quarter.
It said the decrease in bottomline was owing to lower profit in the general insurance segment, which fell 6.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM97.6mil, mainly due to net fair value losses.
The group's revenue, however, was slightly higher at RM487.64mil compared to RM481.35mil in 4QFY23.
The board of directors declared a second interim dividend of 50 sen per share, which goes ex on March 13, 2025, and is payable on March 25, 2025.
For the full year, LPI's net profit was up to RM377.09mil from RM313.73mil in FY23, while revenue rose to RM1.93bil from RM1.91bil in the previous year.
The annual improvement was owing to higher profit from the general insurance segment, which surged 18% to RM438.1mil due to higher insurance service result.
The investment holding segment recorded a higher profit before tax of RM36mil as compared to RM23.6mil in FY23, mainly contributed by higher tax-exempt dividend income received from its equity investment.
