A look at the half-year reports of 50 listed securities firms: 10 firms see net profit halved, Founder Securities reduces staff by over 1,000 people

When it comes to trading stocks, just look at research reports by Golden Qilin analysts—authoritative, professional, timely, comprehensive. Help you uncover potential theme opportunities!

All the performance figures of A-share listed securities firms for the first half of 2024 have now been fully released. Overall, it is a common phenomenon that broker-dealers’ operating revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company (hereinafter referred to as “net profit”) saw year-on-year declines (compared with the same period of the previous year, as well).

Specifically, regarding operating revenue, among 50 listed securities firms, 39 saw their revenue decline year-on-year in the first half, accounting for as much as 78%. Among firms with revenue exceeding 50 billion yuan, the number fell from 10 in the same period last year to 6. Haitong Securities (600837), CICC (601066), ICBC Investment? (601995), and China Merchants Securities (600999) have exited the “100-billion-yuan revenue club.”

As for net profit, in the first half, 37 listed securities firms saw a slump in net profit, accounting for 74%. Among them, 31 firms’ net profit declined by more than 10% year-on-year, while 10 firms saw declines exceeding 50%. Tianfeng Securities (601162) and Jincheng Shares (000712) recorded losses, with net profits of -3.24 billion yuan and -0.51 billion yuan, respectively.

With operating performance under pressure in the first half, securities firms have all been carrying out “cost reduction and efficiency enhancement.” As for headcount, Wind data shows that, aside from this year’s first half, 14 listed securities firms saw their employee numbers decrease, while only 3 saw employee numbers increase.

Among them, Fangzheng Securities (601901) had the biggest reduction in employees in the first half, exceeding 1,000 people. China Citing? Securities? and Guosen Securities (002736) followed closely; in the first half of this year, the total number of employees at both firms decreased by more than 700 people.

The number of brokers with revenue above 100 billion yuan decreased by 4; 3 saw revenue double

The 2024 interim reports show that, among 50 listed securities firms, there are 6 with operating revenue exceeding 100 billion yuan, down from 10 in the same period of 2023—a decrease of 4. Haitong Securities, CICC (601066), ICBC Investment? and China Merchants Securities exited the “100-billion-yuan revenue club.”

Of these, Haitong Securities’ revenue in the first half was 88.65 billion yuan, versus 169.68 billion yuan in the same period last year. CICC’s revenue in the first half was 95.28 billion yuan, versus 134.65 billion yuan in the same period last year. ICBC Investment?’s revenue in the first half was 89.11 billion yuan, versus 124.21 billion yuan in the same period last year. China Merchants Securities’ revenue in the first half was 95.95 billion yuan, versus 107.94 billion yuan in the same period last year.

As for rankings, the order of the members of the “100-billion-yuan revenue club” has also changed. Specifically, CITIC Securities retained the top spot with revenue of 301.83 billion yuan, and is also the only listed securities firm with revenue exceeding 300 billion yuan in the first half of this year.

Haitong Securities? (601688) continues to rank second; its revenue in the first half was 174.41 billion yuan.

Guotai Junan (601211) and China Galaxy (601881) swapped positions: Guotai Junan fell from last year’s No. 3 to No. 4, with revenue of 170.70 billion yuan; China Galaxy rose from last year’s No. 4 to No. 3, with revenue of 170.86 billion yuan in the first half.

Guangfa Securities (000776) and Shenwan Hongyuan (000166) also had first-half revenue above 100 billion yuan, at 117.78 billion yuan and 108.76 billion yuan, respectively. Their rankings rose from last year’s No. 7 and No. 9 to No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

This year, the operating revenue scale fell below 100 billion yuan for Haitong Securities, CICC (601066), and ICBC Investment?’s; their revenue rankings dropped from last year’s No. 5, No. 6, and No. 8 to No. 10, No. 8, and No. 9, respectively. Although China Merchants Securities’ revenue scale decreased compared with the same period last year, its ranking rose from last year’s No. 10 to No. 7.

In terms of revenue growth rates, in the first half of this year, 39 listed securities firms failed to achieve positive growth, among which Tianfeng Securities had the largest decline, with a year-on-year drop of 66.56%.

Haitong Securities followed closely; its revenue decline in the first half exceeded 40%, at 47.76%.

Worth noting is that in the first half of this year, among the top 10 listed securities firms by revenue ranking, all saw their revenue decline. Besides Haitong Securities, CICC and ICBC Investment?’s revenue fell by more than 20%, while Shenwan Hongyuan, China Merchants Securities, and Guangfa Securities saw declines of more than 10%.

In addition, Guolian Securities (601456), Everbright Securities (rights protection) (601788), and Huaxi Securities (002926) all saw revenue declines exceeding 30% in the first half, with year-on-year decreases of 39.91%, 32.29%, and 30.09%, respectively.

However, although only 11 listed securities firms saw revenue growth in the first half of this year, Dongxing Securities (601198), Jincheng Shares (000712), and Guosheng Financial Holding? (002670) all doubled their revenue in the first half, with year-on-year increases of 168.28%, 134.80%, and 127.64%, respectively.

37 firms’ net profit declined year-on-year

Regarding net profit, in the first half of this year, 37 listed securities firms saw their net profit decline year-on-year. Among them, 10 listed securities firms had net profit declines exceeding 50%.

Specifically, Tianfeng Securities’ year-on-year net profit decline was as high as 158.71%, far higher than other A-share brokers. In the first half, it posted a loss of 3.24 billion yuan.

Huaxi Securities (002926) followed closely, with a year-on-year net profit decline of over 90%, at 92.46%. Guolian Securities and Huachuang Yuncheng? (600155) both saw net profit declines of more than 80% in the first half, decreasing by 85.39% and 84.89%, respectively.

Northeast Securities (000686), ZT Securities (600918), and Haitong Securities (600937) all saw net profit declines exceeding 70% in the first half, with year-on-year decreases of 75.83%, 75.51%, and 75.11%, respectively.

Pacific Securities (601099) and Guohai Securities (000750) saw net profit declines exceeding 60% in the first half, decreasing by 67.43% and 63.45%, respectively. Guosheng Financial Holding (002670) saw a net profit decline of over 50% in the first half, at 55.04%.

Among leading brokers, in the first half of this year, among the top 10 listed securities firms by net profit ranking, only China Merchants Securities saw net profit grow year-on-year, but the increase was merely 0.44%.

ICBC Investment? and CICC saw year-on-year net profit declines of more than 30% in the first half, with decreases of 37.43% and 33.66%, respectively.

HuaTai Securities, Guotai Junan, Guosen Securities, and China Galaxy all saw net profit declines of more than 10% in the first half, decreasing by 18.99%, 12.64%, 12.56%, and 11.16%, respectively.

14 brokers reduced employee headcount

In the first half of this year, under the backdrop of overall operating performance pressure, a total of 14 listed securities firms saw their employee numbers decrease.

Wind data shows that among first-half results, Fangzheng Securities (601901) had the largest reduction in employees, exceeding 1,000 people. Its total employee count fell from 7,816 at the end of last year to 6,435, a combined decrease of 1,381.

CITIC Securities and Guosen Securities both saw their total employee count decrease by more than 700 people in the first half of this year. Among them, CITIC Securities decreased by 779 people, and Guosen Securities decreased by 756 people.

CICC saw its total employee count fall by more than 600 people in the first half of this year. The number of employees dropped from 13,900 at the end of last year to 13,300, for a total decrease of 613 people.

Guangfa Securities and China Merchants Securities saw their total employee headcount drop by more than 500 people in the first half, to 542 and 509 people, respectively. Guotai Junan saw a reduction of 324 employees in the first half; from 15,100 at the end of last year to 14,800.

Haitong Securities, Yangtze Securities (000783), Shenwan Hongyuan, and Guohai Securities (000750) saw total employee counts drop by more than 200 people in the first half, decreasing by 291, 230, 206, and 206 people, respectively.

Orient Securities (600958) saw its number of employees drop by more than 100 people in the first half, from 8,452 at the end of last year to 8,313.

Huaxi Securities (002926) and Huatai Securities saw employee numbers fall by more than 50 people in the first half, decreasing by 84 and 53 people, respectively.

However, in the first half of this year, there were also brokers whose employee numbers increased, but there were only 3: China Galaxy, Nanjing Securities (601990), and Shanxi Securities (002500).

Among them, China Galaxy had the largest increase in employees in the first half, adding 319 people. Nanjing Securities and Shanxi Securities saw total employee counts rise by 14 people and 8 people, respectively.

Abundant information and precise insights—available on Sina Finance App