Market securities firms safeguard Q3 profits

HCM City Securities Corporation (HCM) led with revenue of VND140 billion (US$6.67 million) and after-tax profit of VND56 billion ($2.67 million), 24 per cent and 28.5 per cent higher than the same period last year.— Photo vinacorp

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— The number of listed securities companies which saw profits in the third quarter this year increased strongly over the second quarter.

Out of 28 listed companies on the Ha Noi and HCM City exchanges which announced their quarterly financial reports, 18 earned profits this quarter in comparison with 11 companies in the second quarter and 63 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) reported after-tax profit of 52.6 billion ($2.5 million) in the third quarter, 234 per cent higher than the same period last year.

SSI currently ranked second in the brokerage rate on HCM City with 9.72 per cent of market shares and fourth on the Ha Noi Exchange with 6.12 per cent.

VNDirect Securities (VND) earned after-tax profit of nearly VND23 billion ($1.095 million), doubling the figure of the same period last year.

For the nine-month period, the aggregate profits of VNDirect reached VND117 billion ($5.57 million), 67 per cent higher than the previous year's period.

Bao Viet Securities (BVS) and Kim Long Securities (KLS) were also in the top five for securities companies earning profits in the third quarter.

Securities firms, including Woori CBV, An Thanh Securities and Kenaga Securities, incurred losses in the third quarter, however.

Woori CBV reported a loss of VND1.6 billion ($76,190) in the quarter alone and VND4 billion ($190,470) for the nine-month period. An Thanh and Kenaga reported losses of around VND370 million ($17,700) and VND930 million ($44,280) in the third quarter, respectively.

According to Tran Hoang Son, a strategist at MB Securities, those securities companies with good management, efficient analysis and brokerage would have better business results, especially those backed by banks.

However, Son said that the prospect of securities companies' shares remained unclear, saying that he did not expect breakthroughs this year despite the increases in benchmark indices.

He pointed out that chances were better with shares from other sectors because shares of securities companies often fluctuated with market changes. — VNS