HÀ NỘI — The sharp decline of the stock market in the final months of 2018 has had little impact on the yearly business results of securities companies.

The VN-Index, Việt Nam’s benchmark stock index, set an all-time peak of 1,211 points in April 10 last year, but then suffered a sharp decline of 27 per cent, to reach 888 points on October 30. The index continued to decline then hit a six-month low of 878.22 points on January 3.

In 2018, securities firms still saw rising profits. The 30 largest securities companies in the market recorded pre-tax profit of nearly VNĐ9.4 trillion, up 25 per cent compared to 2017’s figure of VNĐ7.5 trillion.

The total profit of the 10 largest companies exceeded VNĐ7.4 trillion.

Of them, the three largest companies with biggest market shares, namely Sài Gòn Securities Inc (SSI), Techcombank Securities (TCBS) and Việt Capital Securities Company (VCSC), totalled pre-tax profit of more than VNĐ4.2 trillion or about 45 per cent of total profit of securities firms in the market.

SSI earned VNĐ1.6 trillion, up 15 per cent year-on-year. VCSC attained VNĐ1.02 trillion, up 26 per cent against 2017. HSC recorded VNĐ842 billion, up by 22 per cent compared to the previous year.

Some smaller companies recorded huge increases in profit like FPT Securities Company (FPTS), up by 149 per cent to touch VNĐ543 billion, thanks to the revaluation of its investment in Sông Hồng Garment JSC (MSH).

IB Securities Company (IBSC) saw profit surging by 162 per cent while that of MB Securities Company (MBS) soared 738 per cent. Kis Viet Nam Securities Corporation (KIS)’s profit rocketed by 1,184 per cent. VPBank Securities Company (VPSC)’s profit climbed by 75 per cent.

Virtually not participating in the stock market, TCBS earned a lot from bonds, seeing profits up by 67 per cent, from VNĐ917 billion to VNĐ1.53 trillion. TCBS’s 2018 revenue reached VNĐ1.87 trillion.

On the other side, VNDirect Securities Corporation, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities JSC (SHS), Bảo Việt Securities Company, Thiên Việt Securities JSC and ACB Securities Company recorded lower profits.

VNDirect’s profit dropped 14 per cent from VNĐ538 billion to VNĐ462 billion while SHS’s profit decreased by 9 per cent to reach VNĐ411 billion. — VNS