Meritz Securities Achieves Record High Performance Last Year...Net Profit Up 38%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Meritz Securities recorded its highest-ever performance again, with pre-tax net profit exceeding 1 trillion KRW for the first time last year.

Meritz Securities announced on the 27th that its consolidated net profit for last year was 782.9 billion KRW, a 38.5% increase compared to the same period the previous year. During this period, operating profit and pre-tax profit were 948.9 billion KRW and 1.0472 trillion KRW, respectively, increasing by 14.6% and 36.5% compared to the same period. All three sectors set record-high performances for five consecutive years from 2017 to last year. Despite the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and intensified competition among large securities firms, all business divisions, including corporate finance, sales & trading, and retail, grew evenly.

In the fourth quarter of last year, operating profit and pre-tax profit recorded 184.2 billion KRW and 234 billion KRW, respectively, and net profit was 189.8 billion KRW, a 31.3% increase compared to the same period last year. From the first quarter of 2018 to the fourth quarter of last year, net profit exceeded 100 billion KRW for 16 consecutive quarters.

The return on equity (ROE), calculated by dividing the net profit earned over the past year by the average equity capital, recorded 15.5%, marking double-digit ROE for eight consecutive years. As of the end of last year, equity capital was 5.3344 trillion KRW, increasing by more than 500 billion KRW compared to a year earlier, but the company stated that it improved ROE by 2.7 percentage points by enhancing capital utilization.

Meanwhile, Meritz Securities has focused on enhancing shareholder value and shareholder return policies by signing trust contracts for acquiring treasury shares totaling 340 billion KRW for cancellation purposes in March, June, and November of last year.

A Meritz Securities official said, "Based on the outstanding expertise of each business division last year, we were able to flexibly respond to trend changes and discover unique investment opportunities," adding, "This year, we will actively explore new growth engines and business opportunities and establish a stable profit base through strengthened risk management."