DESPITE facing an unprecedented period of challenges due to Covid-19, LPI Capital Bhd has managed to maintain its financial performance, recording a net profit of RM77.91 mil in the first quarter ended March 31, 2020, slightly higher than last year’s RM77.15 mil.
Its revenue increased by 2.9% to RM403.9 mil from RM392.7 mil reported in the previous corresponding period.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, LPI Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow said despite the better performance in the quarter, the group had suffered fair value losses of RM8.0 mil in the Statement of Profit or Loss mainly from investments in unit trust funds, quoted equity and corporate bonds.
“The fair value losses resulted mainly from depressed prices which in turn arose from the sell-off by foreign investors for both the equity and bond markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the crash in crude oil price,” he said.
For the quarter under review, the group also registered net fair value losses amounting to RM155 mil from investments in quoted equity in other comprehensive income.
“We expect the volatilities to persist in the next few months but we believe the markets will ultimately reflect the fundamentals of the investments when everything stabilises,” he said.
Meanwhile, on its insurance arm, Lonpac Insurance Bhd, Teh said the wholly-owned insurance subsidiary had managed to further expand its business with its gross premium income increasing by 5.4% to RM486.0 mil from RM460.9 mil registered in the previous corresponding quarter.
This is despite the weak demand in insurance services.
“With the experience of operating under the unprecedented Movement Control Order whereby Lonpac is required to provide essential financial services, the group will further review its digital transformation plan in order to create a more agile and digitally-enabled business that can support our business partners and customers in a more flexible way,” Teh said. — May 4, 2020, Bernama
