KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): MNRB Holdings Bhd reported a 15.62% rise in net profit in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018 (4QFY18) to RM29.41 million, from RM25.43 million a year ago, boosted by business rationalisation exercise, termination of unprofitable ventures, lower management expenses and higher fee income.

In addition, the higher profit was also supported by net gains from the capital reduction exercise in Sinar Seroja Bhd, MNRB said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

Quarterly revenue, however, was 10.76% lower at RM636.71 million compared to RM713.49 million a year ago, on lower contributions from its re-insurance business via Malaysian Reinsurance Bhd (Malaysian Re) and Islamic insurance unit, Takaful Ikhlas Bhd.

Malaysian Re is Malaysia's largest re-insurance firm with a 60% market share. It is also Asean's largest reinsurer by asset size and second largest by gross premiums.

For the full year ended March 31, 2018 (FY18), MNRB said net profit leaped 92.2% to RM136.79 million, from RM71.17 million a year ago, amid a lower revenue, which slipped 2.29% to RM2.47 billion from RM2.53 billion previously.

MNRB said its total assets increased 4.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM7.9 billion in FY18 from RM7.6 billion.

Commenting on the cumulative earnings, MNRB president and group chief executive officer Mohd Din Merican said the commendable results reflected its perseverance and strong dedication whilst operating under an uncertain economic landscape.

"We were focused on executing our strategic business approaches, which yielded to our strong performance in FY18," he added.

On its re-insurance business, Mohd Din said Malaysian Re has embarked on its Business Transformation 2020 and rationalised its overseas portfolio by terminating non-profitable businesses and increasing its participation in high-growth and profitable segments.

"In addition, Malaysian Re had further refined its risk selection process and strengthened its internal control for the businesses it underwrites," he added.

At the same time, MNRB said Malaysian Re's retakaful division had also successfully secured higher businesses volume in FY18.

As for its Islamic insurance business, Mohd Din said the sharp improvement in Takaful Ikhlas was underpinned by higher wakalah fee from both its family and general takaful businesses, as a result of competitive repricing of its products, as well as improvements in claim ratios and effective cost containment initiatives.

"Takaful Ikhlas has set the right track in sustaining a positive momentum and we hope to see the business continue to flourish in FY19," he added.

Going forward, MNRB said it is expected to achieve satisfactory results in FY19.

"Moving into FY19, we will continue to remain cautiously optimistic, enforce strict underwriting discipline and drive value through integration and customer focus," Mohd Din added.

MNRB shares, which are listed on the Main Market, gained 1 sen or 0.41% to closed at RM2.46 today, for a market capitalisation of RM786.23 million.