MANILA, Philippines–Investment house First Metro Investment Corp. posted a nine-month net profit of P1.87 billion, beating its internal target although this was just about a fourth of the profit posted in the same period last year in the absence of extraordinary trading gains this year.
In a statement on Wednesday, FMIC said the P1.87-billion net profit was 4 percent better than its nine-month bottom-line goal. This was, however, much lower than the P7.12 billion in net income reported in the same period last year.
Return on equity stood at 12.64 percent while return on assets was at 2.72 percent.
The financial markets group produced net revenue of P1.09 billion for the period. This was P2.54 billion lower than its P3.64 billion income in 2013, a year marked by exceptional trading gains.
“Despite a sluggish first half for the financial markets, the third quarter of the year has shown signs of renewed momentum. In the debt capital market, First Metro played major roles in three successful issuances,” FMIC president Roberto Juanchito Dispo said.
Dispo referred to SM Prime’s P20-billion bond issuance, GT Capital’s P12-billion bond issue and the national government’s P140-billion liability management transaction, all of which were warmly received by the market.
“We see a very busy fourth quarter for First Metro as we close the remaining deals in our pipeline for the year. We anticipate a rally in the GS (government securities) market as we foresee local inflation to ease significantly.–Doris C. Dumlao