GREAT Eastern posted a 26 per cent year-on-year increase in profit to S$306.7 million for the first quarter ended March, versus S$244 million in the same period the year before.

This was driven by higher profit from the insurance business as well as favourable investment performance in the group’s shareholders fund, said the insurance arm of OCBC : O39 0% on Monday (Apr 29).

Profit from Great Eastern’s insurance business was up 4 per cent year on year to S$236.3 million, which was attributed to a stable contract service margin release, as well as higher profit from general insurance.

Profit from shareholders’ fund rose 245 per cent to S$76 million mainly due to higher fee income, interest and dividend income – as well as mark-to-market gains in equities, collective investment schemes and derivatives.

Total weighted new sales rose 34 per cent on the year to S$524.2 million from S$390.9 million in Q1 FY2023, as growth across the group’s operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia was driven by core distribution channels across these markets.

New embedded business value – a measure of the long-term profitability of new sales – grew 21 per cent to S$163.2 million from S$135.4 million.

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Great Eastern said its capital adequacy ratios of its insurance subsidiaries for the quarter were “strong and well above their respective minimum regulatory levels”. 

Commenting on the latest set of results, group chief executive Khor Hock Seng said he viewed the “strong growth momentum despite the challenging business environment” was testament to the effectiveness of Great Eastern’s distribution, product and digital strategies.

He added that it will continue to take “firm steps” to grow its business and “create sustainable value for (its) stakeholders as the market leader in Singapore and Malaysia”.

Shares of Great Eastern : G07 0% ended Friday S$0.07 or 0.4 per cent higher at S$18.69. 

While this marked the counter at its highest point in the year to date, the latest closing price remains about 40 per cent below April 2018 levels when Great Eastern was trading above S$31 apiece.

The company’s first-quarter business update comes less than a week after its annual general meeting (AGM) where its chairman, Soon Tit Koon, responded to repeated comments from shareholders on the decline of the company’s total shareholder returns (TSR).

At the AGM, which lasted nearly three hours, several shareholders questioned what Great Eastern was doing to improve its returns, in particular its share price, which one investor called “a disaster” and another said had “underperformed massively”.

Soon appealed to them to remain patient as the board continued to work on boosting returns.

He said that the insurer was “taking this share price issue seriously” and its board has “taken action in order to try to improve both share price and TSR to shareholders”.