Great Eastern Holdings' net profit fell 54 per cent to $282.8 million in the third quarter from the preceding year, it said on Tuesday.

The insurance company said this was due to the absence of a one-off gain recorded last year of $421.6 million, which stemmed from the sale of shareholdings in Asia Pacific Breweries and Fraser and Neave.

Excluding the effects of the one-off gain, this year's third-quarter net profit would haev been 43 per cent higher than a year ago. This was due to better profits from the insurance business, said Great Eastern.

The group's earnings per share were 60 cents for the quarter. Net asset value per share was $3.75 as at Sept 30.