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CITISECONLINE (COL) on Tuesday said its first-quarter net income
grew by double digits despite the volatility in the financial
markets.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock
Exchange, COL said its profit jumped by 41 percent to P10.1 million
as revenues climbed 21 percent to P51.7 million year on year.
The company’s trading activities surged 60
percent to P24.6 billion as its clients “aggressively trimmed
their positions in the Philippines, while clients in Hong Kong
actively traded their portfolios to take advantage of the high
volatility and better liquidity in the market.”
CitisecOnline.com Hong Kong Ltd. accounted for
52 percent of total revenues compared with 43 percent last year. The
higher trading activities led to an increase in commissions of 36.1
percent or P13.2 million while interest mostly from margin financing
jumped 60.1 percent or by P5.3 million. COL’s average daily margin
utilization more than doubled to P150.5 million.
Commissions from Hong Kong increased by 74
percent to P35.2 million whereas risk aversion in the Philippines
caused commission revenues in the country to fall by 11 percent to
P14.6 million year on year. However, the decline in trading revenues
in the Philippines was offset by the continued use of COL’s margin
loan product called COL X2. Interest income grew by over 118 percent
to P7 million this year.
The company booked a loss on sale of financial
assets incurred by the Hong Kong subsidiary amounting to P3.2
million, which contributed 86.5 percent of the total increment in
expenses for the period. Depreciation and rentals also grew by 110
percent and 103.6 percent while stock option expense rose 84 percent
due to the acceleration of the expense corresponding to the shares
exercised during the period.
However these were offset as personnel costs
dropped by 25 percent since the company paid a special bonus to
encourage employees to achieve targets.
COL said it focused more on providing market
briefings, seminars, and round table discussions with its customers
in Manila and in provincial areas during the period the Philippine
market fell by almost 18 percent.
First-quarter customer acquisitions jumped by
149 percent year on year but inched up by only 6 percent from the
end-December period due to the “lack of urgency to invest in the
market during uncertain market conditions,” Conrado Bate, COL
president said.
-- Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
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