Great Eastern

Great Eastern Holdings (GE), the insurance arm of OCBC Bank, announced yesterday it had turned a profit of $213.3 million for its third fiscal quarter, down 26 per cent from $287.5 million in the year-ago period.

GE said the fall was due to lower operating profit and non-operating profit from its insurance business, but offset by higher profit from the shareholders' fund.

That was despite gross premiums rising 14 per cent to $3.54 billion. Total weighted new sales similarly rose 14 per cent to $347.1 million, boosted by growth in Singapore and Malaysia, GE said.

For Q3 2018, operating profit from GE's insurance business was $141.4 million, dropping 11 per cent compared with the same period last year due to the release of reserves arising from repositioning of the maturity profile of assets and liabilities last year, the insurer said.

"The group continued to build on the sales momentum from last quarter, delivering steady sales growth during the quarter. Our positive Q3 2018 performance is the result of improved productivity of our distribution channels and introduction of new products in our core markets," said group chief executive Khor Hock Seng.

Raffles Medical Group

Raffles Medical Group reported profit of $16.41 million for its third fiscal quarter, inching up 0.1 per cent from the previous corresponding quarter.

Revenue crept up 1.2 per cent to $121.04 million from $119.6 million. Its healthcare services division recorded a rise in revenue of 8 per cent, while revenue from hospital services division fell 3.8 per cent.

Earnings per share eased to 0.91 cent for the third quarter, compared with 0.93 cent for the same quarter last year.

The increase in revenue from Raffles Medical's healthcare services division was helped by the addition of new corporate clients and the new contract to provide Air Borders screening services, while the dip in revenue from the hospital services division in Q3 2018 was due in part to the refurbishment of the current inpatient facilities, the group said.

Raffles Hospital opened a new inpatient ward this quarter catering to the needs of patients under the Emergency Care Collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, continuing renovation works will add more inpatient facilities in the next quarter to support the group's growth strategies for the coming year.