Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Orient Securities posts $135m net profit in H1

By Song Jingli (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-07-10 11:54

Orient Securities' semi-annual report showed it earned a net profit of 922 million yuan ($135 million) in the first half of 2009, marking a turnaround from its 840-million-yuan loss in the same period of last year, Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday.

Figures disclosed by chinamoney.com.cn showed Shanghai-based Orient Securities posted 922 million yuan in net profit in the first six months, with its earnings per share reaching 0.28 yuan. It earned a net income of 754 million yuan from its securities brokerage business, accounting for about 40 percent of its 1.84-billion-yuan revenue. Investment banking and assets management services contributed 7.8 million yuan and 6.11 million yuan to its revenue.

Related readings:  Brokers' commission in Q1 surges over 70%  Chinese brokers' profits decline in 2008  'Negative' outlook for securities brokers in 2009  Brokers' rules likely to help bigger players

It earned 447 million yuan from investment and 499 million yuan attributable to fair value changes, which together accounted for 51 percent of the revenue. Fair value changes incurred a heavy loss of 2.36 billion yuan for the brokerage in the same period of last year.

A person with Orient Securities confirmed that the firm was highly cautious about holding stocks even amid the recent rebound.

Industry insiders consider the semi-yearly report of Orient Securities to be a sign for a better-than-expected performance of securities firms in general, the paper said.

The rebound in the stock market has helped improve the performance of securities firms and it is less likely for them to suffer a loss in the first half of this year, an executive from a securities firm told the paper.

Liu Jun, an analyst with Changjiang Securities, said Chinese brokerages are likely to see a 40-percent growth in total profits in the first six months of this year whereas listed ones can expect their profits to grow more than 5 percent year-on-year.