UOI posts Q1 net profit of S$7.01m, down 0.6%

UNITED Overseas Insurance (UOI) on Wednesday posted a net profit of S$7.01 million for the first quarter ended March 2017, down 0.6 per cent year on year, led by a drop in gross premium written.

This represents an annualised earnings per share of 45.82 Singapore cents.

For the three months, gross written premium was 4.9 per cent lower at S$28.94 million, attributable largely to timing difference in premium declarations.

UOI said that "there was no apparent significant loss in business".

Correspondingly, underwriting profit for the quarter was down 17.2 per cent to S$6.99 million.

In its outlook, UOI said: "The company will continue to face challenges given the many uncertainties in the global, regional and Singapore economy and intensifying competition in the local insurance market. Given its advantage in bancassurance and other promising marketing initiatives, the company expects performance to remain satisfactory."

It added that on the investment income front, "volatility and uncertainty will continue to characterise most of the investment markets" but the restructuring of the investment portfolio is expected to yield positive results.