The country’s leading online stock brokerage, COL Financial, posted a 35.3-percent growth in its net profit in 2018 to a record high P512.6 million as revenue breached the P1-billion mark for the first time.
“We were able to achieve strong growth last year by increasing our focus on our customers’ needs, while maintaining our operating discipline,” COL president and CEO Conrado Bate said in a disclosure to the local stock exchange on Friday.
Consolidated revenue for 2018 rose by 20.6 percent to P1.2 billion.
Commission revenue from the Philippine operations rose by 3.8 percent to P687 million, amid a contraction in volume in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) last year. However, interest income jumped by 68.6 percent to P422 million due to proactive cash management and an improved interest rate environment. Trailer fees from the fund distribution segment also rose by 39.8 percent to P14.8 million as average assets under administration reached P2.6 billion.
Operating profit grew by 42.1 percent to P726.7 million. Self-directed retail investors accounted for a larger share of commission revenue at 82 percent in 2018, up from 72 percent in 2017.
COL stepped up efforts to reach out to new customers by conducting nationwide investor education programs and campaigns. In addition, the company continued to see a steady stream of referrals from its clientele, which helped expand its client base by 18.1 percent to over 293,300 as of end-2018.
Total net client assets also held steady from the previous year’s level at P72.5 billion, with net new flows almost doubling to P7.5 billion even as the PSE saw a 12.7-percent decline in value.
COL’s average daily value turnover in the PSE increased by 4.4 percent to over P1 billion, defying the 11.3-percent decline in PSE turnover. Consequently, COL’s market share rose to 7.4 percent in 2018 from 6.3 percent in the previous year.
COL ended the year ranked No. 2 in the PSE in terms of value turnover, improving from its No. 6 ranking in 2017.
The mutual fund segment also continued to grow, with the number of mutual fund investors reaching 36,349 in 2018, up 32.8 percent from the previous year.
Assets under administration hit P2.8 billion in 2018, up 25.8 percent from a year ago. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA