December 02, 2008

CITIC\'s H1 2008 profit slowed to 13.3%

Shanghai Daily reported that CITIC Securities Co first half profit growth slowed to 13.3% as the nation's stock market slumped about 48%.

According to a statement from the Beijing based Securities Company citing unaudited figures in a mandatory profit warning that net income rose to CNY 4.8 billion in the six months ending June 30 from a year earlier. CITIC earned CNY 4.2 billion in the first half last year. The company's profit doubled in the first quarter this year.

The stock market decline is cutting earnings from commissions and proprietary trading after surging profits last year when the nation's stocks almost tripled in value. Investors traded shares in about 10 million stock accounts, or 8.5% WoW of the nation's total, in the last week of the first half compared with 19% in the first week.

CITIC's earnings per share declined 49% to CNY 0.72 compared with CNY 1.41 a year earlier after the company's total outstanding shares were diluted to about 6.6 billion as of the end of June from about 3 billion a year earlier.