CitisecOnline.com profits rise amid weak market

MANILA, Philippines - Listed online stock brokerage firm CitisecOnline.com (COL) managed to increase its profits in the first quarter amid weak market conditions. In a statement, COL president and chief executive officer Conrado F. Bate said net income rose 31 percent to P46 million while revenues grew by 19.7 percent to P79 million from P66 million driven by higher commission revenues primarily to its Hong Kong operations. “Following a significant dip in the Philippine value turnover in the last quarter of 2008, trading volumes stabilized in January and February this year and strongly improved by March," he said. COL wholly owns CitisecOnline.com Hong Kong Ltd. (COLHK), which was incorporated on June 20, 2001 and started operations on May 29 2002. A member of the Hong Kong Exchanges, COLHK is a registered owner of one Hong Kong Stock Exchange trading right. COL’s expenses during the three-month period went down by 11.11 percent to P27 million to P24 million as the management took a “more prudent approach" in its financial assets. As COL encourages disciplined investing through its new product for risk averse customers, its local operations saw a 28 percent growth in new accounts. The company will continue to invest heavily in investor education, research and technology to “empower and guide its customers to achieve their investment goals" through its web service, regular seminars, and market briefings. COL vice-president Juanis Barredo, said investors are keen in learning about its new investment program, COL Easy Investment Program (COL EIP). “They have begun to fully appreciate the benefits of this service which uses peso cost averaging, to buy cheap stocks during this turbulent period," he added. -Ruby Anne M. Rubio, GMANews.TV