Meritz Securities Reports Record High Net Profit of 554.6 Billion KRW Last Year... Surpasses Previous Records Again

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji-hwan Park] Meritz Securities announced on the 29th that its net profit for last year reached 554.6 billion KRW, a 27.9% increase compared to the previous year.

Operating profit and pre-tax profit were 679.9 billion KRW and 767.0 billion KRW, respectively, increasing by 27.7% and 30.2% over the same period. Following a record high net profit of 433.8 billion KRW in 2018 since its founding, the company achieved its highest performance again within one year.

In the fourth quarter of last year, operating profit and net profit were 226.3 billion KRW and 163.0 billion KRW, respectively, up 87.3% and 56.1% compared to the previous quarter. The fourth-quarter operating profit surpassed 200 billion KRW for the first time on a quarterly basis. Net profit also set a quarterly record, achieving over 100 billion KRW for eight consecutive quarters.

The return on equity (ROE), calculated by dividing the net profit earned over the past year by the average equity capital, recorded 14.8%, improving by 1.8 percentage points compared to 13.0% in 2018. ROE has maintained double digits for six consecutive years, demonstrating steady profitability.

Equity capital increased by 15.7% to 4.0193 trillion KRW from 3.4731 trillion KRW the previous year, supported by the increase in net profit and the issuance of new hybrid capital securities at the end of last year.

A Meritz Securities official explained, "Last year, we discovered new revenue sources through alternative investments in various fields such as domestic and overseas real estate, ships, aircraft, and overseas M&A acquisition financing. This led to balanced growth across divisions including corporate finance (IB), trading, wholesale, and retail, further boosting performance growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.