COL Financial posts hefty gains in Q4

MANILA, Philippines - Leading online stock broker COL Financial Group Inc. posted hefty gains in the fourth quarter last year, recovering from a slowdown in the previous nine months.

In the October to December period, COL said its operating profits climbed 16.1 percent to P50.1 million.

“Profits rebounded as COL benefited from the recovery of trading activity by local investors in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE),” the company said.

In the fourth quarter, value turnover of local investors rose 3.3 percent after decreasing 29.4 percent in the third quarter.

COL also credited the significant increase in its client base, which reached 46,536 as of end-2012 from 42,190 as of September 2012 and 27,704 as of end -2011.

Commission revenues from Philippine operations surged 43.2 percent to P105.9 million.

Expenses grew at a much slower pace, rising by only 12.1 percent.

“The recovery of our operating performance in the last three months of 2012 shows that efforts to improve our level of service are starting to pay off,” said COL  president and CEO Dino Bate.

However, the rebound in the final three months of 2012 was not enough to offset the slowdown in the January to September period.

COL said its operating income slipped 15.6 percent to P339.2 million for the entire 2012 from P401.7 million a year ago while consolidated net income dropped 8.6 percent to P305.9 million.

The full-year result was dragged by the weak showing of its Hong Kong operations.

But COL said it maintained its leadership position in the PSE as its market share in terms of volume of transactions jumped to 23.2 percent last year from 20.9 percent in 2011.

In value terms, COL remained the seventh largest stock broker, accounting for P150.4 billion worth of transactions.

“Although investments to ensure COL Financial’s superior level of service are dragging profits currently, we are confident that these investments will generate higher returns over time,” Bate said.

COL targets to grow its client base to more than 60,000 this year. The figure is expected to increase further to 100,000 customers in the next three years.