COL posts 14.7% rise in H1 profit

Leading online stock brokerage COL Financial Group Inc. increased its consolidated net income by 14.7 percent in the first half year on year to P209.1 million, as bigger Philippine operations made up for the slack in its Hong Kong business.

During the first semester, consolidated revenue from the Philippine franchise rose by 11 percent to P355.9 million from year-ago level, as earnings from commission jumped by 58.1 percent to P227.9 million.

COL’s consolidated asset base expanded by 16.3 percent year on year to P4.1 billion as of end-June versus the end-December level. Assets from the Philippines alone increased by 20.8 percent during the same period to P3.6 billion.

The strong growth in domestic commission revenues was attributed to the significant increase in the value of transactions in the Philippine Stock Exchange and the strong growth in COL’s client base, which rose to 37,000 during the period from 28,000 as of end-2011.

Client equity expanded to P22.1 billion as of end-June from P16.5 billion in the same period last year. Due to the strong growth in COL’s domestic operations, the Philippines now accounted for 91 percent of its consolidated revenue versus the 82 percent share for the whole of 2011.

Overall net profit growth, however, was tempered by the weak performance of Hong Kong and the high operating expenses arising from the expansion in COL’s domestic capacity. Revenue from Hong Kong fell by 48.2 percent year on year to P33.6 million as market conditions continued to deteriorate. Operating expenses in the Philippines grew by 63.2 percent to P115.5 million during the period.

“Last year, we took numerous steps to improve our level of service, such as upgrading our computer systems to address the growing volume of transactions, making it easier for clients to transfer funds to their accounts and making information more accessible to our clients by employing more communication channels and accommodating more attendees in our seminars. These efforts have clearly paid off given our growing number of clients and their expanding equity positions,” COL president Conrado Bate said.