Brokerages rake it in amid market's woes

VCSC attained profit of VND1.02 trillion, an increase of 26 per cent against 2017. — Photo cafef.vn

The sharp decline of the stock market in the final months of 2018 has had little impact on the yearly business results of securities companies.

The VN-Index, Viet Nam’s benchmark stock index, set an all-time peak of 1,211 points in April 10 last year, but then suffered a sharp decline of 27 per cent, to reach 888 points on October 30. The index continued to decline then hit a six-month low of 878.22 points on January 3.

In 2018, securities firms still saw rising profits. The 30 largest securities companies in the market recorded pre-tax profit of nearly VND9.4 trillion, up 25 per cent compared to 2017’s figure of VND7.5 trillion.

The total profit of the 10 largest companies exceeded VND7.4 trillion.

Of them, the three largest companies with biggest market shares, namely Sai Gon Securities Inc (SSI), Techcombank Securities (TCBS) and Viet Capital Securities Company (VCSC), totalled pre-tax profit of more than VND4.2 trillion or about 45 per cent of total profit of securities firms in the market.

SSI earned VND1.6 trillion, up 15 per cent year-on-year. VCSC attained VND1.02 trillion, up 26 per cent against 2017. HSC recorded VND842 billion, up by 22 per cent compared to the previous year.

Some smaller companies recorded huge increases in profit like FPT Securities Company (FPTS), up by 149 per cent to touch VND543 billion, thanks to the revaluation of its investment in Song Hong Garment JSC (MSH).

IB Securities Company (IBSC) saw profit surging by 162 per cent while that of MB Securities Company (MBS) soared 738 per cent. Kis Viet Nam Securities Corporation (KIS)’s profit rocketed by 1,184 per cent. VPBank Securities Company (VPSC)’s profit climbed by 75 per cent.

Virtually not participating in the stock market, TCBS earned a lot from bonds, seeing profits up by 67 per cent, from VND917 billion to VND1.53 trillion. TCBS’s 2018 revenue reached VND1.87 trillion.

On the other side, VNDirect Securities Corporation, Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities JSC (SHS), Bao Viet Securities Company, Thien Viet Securities JSC and ACB Securities Company recorded lower profits.

VNDirect’s profit dropped 14 per cent from VND538 billion to VND462 billion while SHS’s profit decreased by 9 per cent to reach VND411 billion. — VNS