Citic Securities first-half profits up 13 pct

Citic Securities, China's largest brokerage by assets, said Saturday its net profit rose 13.12 percent year-on-year to 2.97 billion yuan (463.83 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, revenue fell 5.02 percent year-on-year to 7.51 billion yuan during the period, accounting for 10 percent of the total market share, the company said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The revenue dropped after the company no longer consolidated operating income from China Securities Co., in which the company used to hold a 60 percent stake, said the statement. To meet the country's regulatory requirements, Citic Securities sold a 53 percent stake in China Securities Co. in late 2010 and kept a 7-percent holding. The deal drove the net profit of its securities sales commission businesses down 45.4 percent year-on-year to 2.04 billion yuan in the first half while securities underwriting businesses down 41.56 percent to 581 million yuan from a year earlier, the statement said. But its net investment income jumped 649.94 percent year-on-year to 2.67 billion yuan during the period, it added. Earnings per share stood at 0.3 yuan, an increase of 15.38 percent year-on-year. The company's total assets fell 13.94 percent year-on-year to 131.82 billion yuan at the end of June, it said.