Many securities companies performed weakly in the first half of the year, pulled down by lower brokerage and margin lending service revenues. — File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Many securities companies performed weakly in the first half of the year, pulled down by lower brokerage and margin lending service revenues.

According to data from HCM City and Ha Noi stock exchanges, more than 30 brokerage companies have submitted their financial reports for the second quarter and first half. Most are small firms with charter capital of below VND300 billion (US$13.8 million).

Only seven brokers posted higher second-quarter revenue growth this year than last year: Da Nang Securities, Tam Nhin (Horizon) Securities, Viet Thanh Securities, Mirae Asset Securities Vietnam, Thanh Cong Securities, Euro Capital Securities and Quoc Gia Securities.

Six of these firms earned higher revenue thanks to increases in brokerage and margin lending activities. Horizon Securities Corp earned the highest. Its brokerage fees soared from VND1 million ($46) in the first quarter of 2014 to VND6.6 billion ($303,000) in the second quarter of the year.

Only Mirae Asset Securities earned major revenue from self-investment activities. The company's brokerage fees dropped 12 per cent on the year, but its investment strategy earned the company VND2.9 billion in the second quarter in 2015, accounting for nearly 35 per cent of its total revenue.

However, most of other firms saw their revenue decline. Overall, the total revenue of more than 30 companies declined more than 45 per cent on average.

Toan Cau Securities Co was the biggest loser as its revenue reached just VND200 million ($9,200) in the last three months to June, down 98.5 per cent year-on-year. Phu Gia Securities Co closely followed with a decrease of 91 per cent and VSM Securities with a drop of 78 per cent.

Investment Vietnam Securities Co recorded the smallest decrease in revenue of just 2.1 per cent. Though its brokerage fees and other sources of revenue increased during the period but strong declines in the consultancy and self investment activities depreciated its overall performance.

According to market insiders, brokerage and margin lending contributed the most to small companies' revenue. So when these activities declined, it would pull down the small businesses.

Profits seemed brighter, with only nine companies posting losses in the second quarter and first half.

De Nhat Securities Co topped the list of profitable companies with earnings of VND8 billion ($367,000) in the second quarter and nearly VND13 billion ($596,000) in the last six months.

In terms of growth, Horizon Securities recorded the most impressive results. It climbed from losses of VND2.3 billion ($106,000) in the second quarter last year to a profit of VND5 billion ($230,000) in the second quarter this year and VND4.2 billion ($193,000) in the first half of the year. — VNS