KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 8): LPI Capital Bhd's net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) rose 18.13% to RM75.84 million from RM64.2 million a year ago, on the back of an improved performance in general insurance and underwriting profit from its wholly-owned subsidiary Lonpac Insurance Bhd.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, the company said its revenue had increased 16.02% to RM349.51 million from RM301.24 million in 3QFY14, while earnings per share (EPS) rose to 22.85 sen from 19.39 sen a year earlier.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2015 (9MFY15), LPI Capital's net profit has grown 31.83% to RM217.78 million from RM165.96 million a year ago.

This translated to a higher EPS of 65.9 sen from 50.14 sen in 9MFY14.

Revenue was up 8.66% at RM945.96 million from RM870.53 million in the previous year.

LPI Capital said the increase was largely contributed by the general insurance segment which registered an increase of 8.8% to RM912.6 million over the previous corresponding period in FY14.

The revenue from the investment holding segment recorded a higher investment income of RM33.4 million, mainly due to higher interest income received during the period under review.

In a statement today, LPI Capital founder and chairman Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow cautioned, "While the US economy has registered strong growth, the Asian economies, especially China, are still struggling to stabilise."

"We expect the last quarter of 2015 to be challenging for the Malaysian economy and the insurance industry as demand for insurance will continue to slow down. The group will, however, continue to implement its business plan with prudence and focus on growth expansion in the targeted portfolios," he added.

At Bursa's afternoon market close, LPI was traded 10 sen or 0.7% higher at RM14.30, for a market capitalisation of RM4.75 billion.

(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.)