COL Financial says PHL results lifted consolidate revenues

Online stockbroker COL Financial Group Inc. (COL) on Monday said commission revenues from its Philippine operations grew by 19 percent to P300.6 million in the first nine months of 2012.   Consolidated asset base expanded by 6.3 percent to P3.7 billion. In an emailed statement citing president and CEO Dino Bate, COL said the increasing value of transactions on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) pushed company revenues higher – largely from commissions – and expanded its client based.   Value turnover on the PSE rose 43 percent. Commission revenues, COL said, would have posted higher increases had it not been for the drop in the share of local investors to total transactions on the stock market from 63 percent during the first nine months of 2011, to 44 percent this year.   COL’s client base jumped to 42,000 as of end-September from 27,306 as of end-2011, pushing its asset base as client equity to nearly double at P31.7 billion in the same comparable period.   Year-on-year, transaction volume rose to 23 percent of the market from 21 percent, which helped COL keep its rank as one of the Top 10 stockbrokers on the PSE or the seventh largest brokerage house with cumulative transactions of P111.6 billion.   The Philippines accounted for 91 percent of consolidated revenues in January to September, up from 82 percent for the whole of last year.   However, COL’s consolidated net income slipped down 7.5 percent during the first nine months of 2012 to P266.5 million owing to the weak performance of its Hong Kong subsidiary and as COL expanded its operations domestically leading to higher costs.   Revenues from Hong Kong plunged 53 percent to P43.9 million as market conditions in China’s special administrative region and former British colony continued to deteriorate.   Higher operating expenses in the Philippines, which grew by 32 percent to P169.9 million, also dragged the company’s bottom line.   “Our investments in our infrastructure, the right quality and competent team and our sustained efforts in investor education in the last year allows us to confidently ensure the sustainability of our long term organic growth, as COL would like to remain as the broker of choice for Filipinos who want to achieve financial freedom,” said Bate. — EST/VS, GMA News