Meritz Securities Achieves Record High Performance... H1 Net Profit of 440.8 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Meritz Securities announced on the 8th that its consolidated net profit for the first half of this year reached 440.8 billion KRW, a 9.7% increase compared to the same period last year. Operating profit and pre-tax profit for the first half also rose by 9.8% and 8%, reaching 575.8 billion KRW and 594.3 billion KRW, respectively. Operating profit, pre-tax profit, and net profit all set record highs for a half-year period.

A Meritz Securities official explained, "Despite the unstable financial environment caused by the sharp rise in market interest rates and a decrease in stock market trading volume in the first half of this year, we achieved excellent results across all business sectors, including corporate finance (IB) and sales & trading."

However, looking at the quarterly figures, operating profit in the second quarter was 198.8 billion KRW, down 17.1% compared to the same period last year. Revenue increased by 201.4% to 14.7058 trillion KRW, but net profit decreased by 16.7% to 158.4 billion KRW. The company stated that the corporate finance (IB) division posted solid results despite the unfavorable market conditions. With this, Meritz Securities has recorded net profit exceeding 100 billion KRW for 18 consecutive quarters from the first quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of this year.

As of the end of June, shareholders' equity stood at 5.6318 trillion KRW, an increase of 233.4 billion KRW from the previous quarter. The consolidated annualized return on equity (ROE) was 16.1%. The net capital ratio (NCR), an indicator of financial soundness, improved by 146 percentage points to 1503% as of the end of June compared to the previous quarter.

A Meritz Securities official said, "In the second half of the year, we will focus on building a safer portfolio from a more conservative perspective to respond to crisis situations," adding, "We will closely monitor market risk factors, thoroughly manage liquidity risks considering stress scenarios, and strive to ensure both profitability and stability."