COL nets P215M

COL founder and chair Edward Lee (center) with COL vice chair Alexander Yu (left) and president Conrado Bate (right).

The country’s leading online stock brokerage COL Financial chalked up P214.6 million in net profit in the first semester, rising by 17.1 percent year-on-year on higher commission generated from record trading activities.

COL’s six-month commission grew by 10 percent year-on-year to P322.5 million as the average daily value turnover of the stock brokerage in the first half jumped by 18.1 percent to a new record of P1 billion. This growth outpaced the 11.2-percent expansion in total average daily value turnover at the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Due to the strong growth in value of transactions, COL reported that its market share in the PSE increased to 6 percent in the first half, also a new record high for the brokerage. It likewise maintained its rank as the fourth largest stock broker in the PSE, which it first attained during the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, COL continued to be the number one stock broker in terms of transaction volume,
cornering 20.3 percent of total transactions in the semester.

“Our strategy of focusing on the retail investor base, a segment that is rapidly growing and is
underserved, is continuing to pay off as evidenced by our strong first half numbers,” said COL
president and chief executive officer Conrado Bate.

COL ended the semester with client base reaching nearly 225,000, adding 43,000 new clients year-on-year. Client equity also rose to a record level of P68.2 billion by the end of June, a 21 percent increase from the year before.

COL’s fledgling fund distribution business, COL Fund Source, also gained traction in the first half, ending the six-month period with more than 22,000 clients and total value of assets under administration of P1.7 billion. Notwithstanding the net redemptions suffered by the mutual fund industry, COL’s equity mutual fund net sales for the first half reached P213.8 million.

COL Fund Source, carries pre-selected peso-denominated funds from six asset management companies that altogether account for around 98 percent of the assets under management by the local mutual fund industry.