KUALA LUMPUR: LPI Capital Bhd 's net earnings of RM105.38mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30 was 22.29% higher than RM86.18mil in the previous corresponding quarter, underpinned by a strong underwriting result from its insurance unit and higher dividends from investments.

       For the quarter under review, revenue increased 8.1% to RM427.9mil from RM395.8mil on the back on of a 72.3% jump in investment income to RM32.5mil.

       Net return on equity improved to 5.1% from 4.9% in the same quarter last year while earnings per share rose to 26.45 sen from 21.63 sen.

       LPI said in a statement on Thursday that the prolonged lockdown and slower economic activities during the quarter affected the demand for insurance products as insurance subsidiary Lonpac Insurance Bhd registered a 6% reduction in gross premium income to RM357.9mil.

       The insurer's net earned premium income improved marginally by 0.7% to RM255.9mil.

       However, the restrictive MCOs also resulted in lower claims reported with Lonpac's claims incurred ratio improving significantly to 33.6% from 39.5% in the same quarter last year.

       It added that both motor and medical insurances continued to register lower claims incurred ratios, which contributed to better underwriting profits.

       "The third quarter was a particularly difficult period with the continuing MCOs, border closures and production line outages resulting in significant impact to Malaysian businesses.

       "The restriction in movement has greatly disrupted the group’s business development activities.

       "However, despite the many challenges faced in this prolonged pandemic, the LPI Group has remained resilient and continued to report improved performance for the third quarter of FY2021," said group chairman Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow in a statement.

       Moving forward, he said the group is confident of the growth prospects of the insurance industry.

       For the nine months period to Sept 30, LPI recorded a 12.5% increase in net profit to RM271.6mil from RM241.5mil in the same period last year.

       Group revenue rose 7.5% year-on-year to RM1.28bil from RM1.2bil in the comparative period.