KUALA LUMPUR (May 15): Insas Bhd’s net profit fell 8% to RM28.12 million or 4.23 sen per share for the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2015, from RM30.69 million or 4.61 sen per share in the previous year.

However, revenue more than doubled to RM139.69 million, from RM65.97 million a year earlier.

“Despite the higher revenue, the group reported lower pre-tax profit in the current financial quarter, mainly due to lower profit reported by stock broking, structured finance and pre-tax loss reported by the investment unit,” said the group in a statement to the exchange.

Its financial services and credit & leasing division saw lower revenue, due to weaker market sentiment during the quarter under review.

On the other hand, the loss reported by its investment holding and trading division was attributed to higher impairment loss on financial assets of RM17.6 million.

For the cumulative period, net profit shrunk 55% to RM58.69 million, from RM131 million in the previous corresponding period; while revenue jumped 46% to RM319.47 million, from RM219.13 million.

Looking ahead, Insas (fundamental: 2.3; valuation: 1.8) expects its financial services and investment trading division to experience slower growth due to challenging market conditions, but said the segment will continue to contribute positively to its earnings for the financial year ending June 30, 2015.

Meanwhile, the group is optimistic its IT unit and Inari Amertron Bhd (fundamental: 2.7; valuation: 1.5), in which it owns a 27.78% indirect stake, will continue to contribute to its performance for the year.

Insas share price climbed 3.5 sen or 3.76% to 96.5 sen, translating into a market capitalisation of RM616.6 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)