Kurnia Group
Kurnia's unaudited net profit for six months ended Dec 31 up 6.8%
THE STAR - Friday, February 9th, 2007
By Daljit Dhesi
PETALING JAYA: Kurnia Asia Berhad (KAB) has reported an unaudited group net profit of RM 60.80mil for the six months ended Dec 31, 2006, up 6.8%, compared with the net profit of RM 56.91mil in the preceding corresponding period.
KAB in a statement said this translates into net earnings per ordinary share of 4.05 sen compared with 3.79 sen previously.
The improvement in overall profitability was mainly attributed to the strong investments performance, which cushioned the lower underwriting surplus recorded during the current period.
Gross premium income for the six months declined by 1.7% year-on-year, from RM538.27mil to RM529.28mil.
This was mainly a result of slower vehicle sales and drop in vehicle market values caused by the National Automotive Policy introduced in March last year and higher fuel prices as well as higher interest rates, it added.
Claims expense increased by 1% year-on-year, from RM328.49mil to RM331.78mil, while claims ratio weaken from 62.4% to 65.6% partly due to the lower earned premium base recorded for the current period.
The Group's total assets expanded from RM2.02bil at the end of preceding quarter to RM2.06bil at the end of the current quarter, while net assets value per ordinary share grew from 33.79 sen to 34.73 sen, despite the payment of an interim net dividend of RM20mil during the quarter.
For the quarter-on-quarter performance, KAB said gross premium income dropped by 1.3% from RM266.43mil to RM262.85mil as the motor segment continued to be affected by slower car sales as well as lower car prices.
Despite the challenging market, the Group posted a profit after tax of RM37.04mil for the quarter under review, representing a growth of 55.9% from RM23.76mil previously.
Investment performance improved by 112.7% on a quarterly basis from a net income of RM21.83mil to RM46.42mil.