NH Investment & Securities posted a record first-half net profit attributable to controlling shareholders of 965.2 billion won ($652 million), the company announced Thursday. Broad-based growth across brokerage, financial product sales and investment banking, combined with an expanding customer base, drove operating profit to 1.32 trillion won as the firm translated a buoyant stock market into strong earnings.
The first-half net profit marked a 107.6 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, with brokerage revenue and balanced growth across financial products and IB leading the way.
Net operating revenue for the first half rose 89.0 percent year-on-year to 2.26 trillion won, while operating profit reached 1.32 trillion won. The annualized return on equity stood at 19.0 percent.
Second-quarter net profit attributable to controlling shareholders came in at 489.6 billion won, up 90.7 percent from the same quarter a year ago. NH Investment & Securities said the results reflected its efforts to broaden its customer base on all fronts amid domestic and overseas market volatility, while strengthening digital and global trading infrastructure to maximize brokerage revenue.
Brokerage fee income totaled 795 billion won for the first half, a 211.7 percent increase from a year earlier. On a second-quarter basis, fee income rose 27.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to 445.6 billion won.
Domestic equity fee revenue reached 390.9 billion won, up 26.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, as the firm lifted its market share by 0.7 percentage points from the previous quarter in an environment where average daily trading volume in domestic equities expanded to around 90.2 trillion won. Overseas equity also performed strongly, with second-quarter fee revenue rising 55.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to 85.8 billion won, driven by higher average daily trading volume and robust contract activity.
The financial product sales segment also achieved qualitative improvement. First-half cumulative fee income from financial product sales rose 127.2 percent year-on-year to 125.9 billion won, while the second-quarter figure climbed 56.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to 76.8 billion won.
Sales of target-return wrap accounts — timed to ride the domestic equity rally — surged in the second quarter, pushing asset management fees up 171.8 percent quarter-on-quarter. Total customer assets expanded to 612 trillion won. The high-net-worth client base also deepened: customers with assets of 100 million won or more numbered 455,000, while those with 1 billion won or more exceeded 33,000.
The IB segment, a traditional strength of the firm, continued to build on its track record. First-half cumulative IB fee income reached 205.5 billion won, and the second-quarter figure rose 11.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to 108.3 billion won, supported by an increase in debt guarantee-related fees.
In equity capital markets, the firm successfully led the listings of Piece Peace Studio and Cosmo Robotics, among others, claiming the top spot in the first-half IPO bookrunner league table. In debt capital markets, it managed bond issuances for Hanon Systems and SK Networks while maintaining its No. 1 position in the financial bond lead-manager rankings.
The trading and investment division posted first-half cumulative revenue of 831.5 billion won, up 62.5 percent year-on-year. Second-quarter revenue came in at 407.3 billion won, with the firm managing earnings steadily through conservative and preemptive risk management even as market interest rates rose and volatility increased.
"What I find more noteworthy than achieving record earnings in the first half is the qualitative shift in our revenue mix," said Shin Jae-wook, chief executive of NH Investment & Securities. "Fee income from financial product sales more than doubled compared to a year ago, and we have firmly maintained our leadership in IB, which has long been a core strength."
th5@heraldcorp.com
