Securities companies in Taiwan suffered a decline of more than 17 percent month-on-month in net profits last month, in the wake of losses incurred by their proprietary operations, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).
The TWSE said the 80 securities companies in Taiwan posted NT$3.79 billion (US$126 million) in net profits last month, down 17.09 percent from a month earlier. The exchange added that 66 of the 80 reported a net profit, but 14 others suffered a net loss.
The 80 securities firms posted NT$0.116 in earnings per share (EPS) last month, compared with NT$0.139 in EPS recorded a month earlier, and their return on equity (ROE) last month stood at 0.79 percent, down from May’s 0.95 percent, the TWSE said.
Last month, 46 integrated securities firms out of the 80 posted NT$3.69 billion in net profit, down 17.6 percent from May, the exchange’s statistics showed.
The 33 dedicated brokerages out of the 80 reported NT$99.96 million in net profits last month, up 6.72 percent from a month earlier, the exchange said.
It added that only one futures commission merchant in Taiwan — Yuanta Futures — posted NT$759,000 in net profit in the month, up from NT$64,000 recorded in May.
In Taiwan, integrated securities firms are allowed to engage in a wide range of activities that include brokering trades, proprietary trading and underwriting, while dedicated securities brokers can only broker and trade equities.
In the first six months of this year, the 80 securities firms registered NT$16.9 billion in net profits, up 128 percent from a year earlier on a strong rebound on the local bourse, the TWSE said.
In the six-month period, the weighted index on the main board rose 10.72 percent, while turnover rose 21 percent from a year earlier, according to the exchange.
The 80 securities firms recorded NT$0.516 in EPS for the six-month period, up from NT$0.227 in EPS seen over the same period of last year, while their ROE rose to 3.51 percent from 1.56 percent.
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