KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Genting Bhd, Malaysia's gaming-to-plantations conglomerate, on Thursday reported a 2.4 per cent rise in profits for the third quarter ended September, mainly driven by higher net foreign exchange gains and a reversal of previously recognised impairment losses.

The group, controlled by the country's fourth richest man Lim Kok Thay according to Forbes, said net profit for the July-September period rose to 361.1 million ringgit (S$120.3 million) from 352.7 million ringgit the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue increased 3.4 per cent to 4.65 billion ringgit.

The results were released after the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange had closed. Genting's shares closed down 0.41 per cent at 7.30 ringgit.

Genting shares have dropped 17.4 per cent year to date, underperforming a 4.4 per cent drop in the benchmark stock index over the same period.