Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd. reported a 26.7% year-over-year increase in net profit for the full year ended Dec. 31, 2017, on the back of higher fee and commission income.
The company said March 16 that profit attributable to ordinary equity holders rose to HK$1.23 billion from HK$969.1 million in the prior-year period. Full-year EPS climbed to 17.6 cents from 13.9 cents.
The S&P Capital IQ consensus mean estimate for 2017 full year normalized EPS was 18 cents.
Brokerage fee and commission income amounted to HK$517.1 million, up from HK$393.0 million, while corporate finance fee and commission income rose to HK$683.5 million from HK$456.6 million.
Revenue jumped to HK$3.13 billion from HK$2.52 billion, while operating profit went up to HK$1.95 billion from HK$1.53 billion.
Finance costs for the period came to HK$393.8 million, up from HK$336.8 million in 2016.
The company's board maintained a final dividend of 4.5 cents per share. Together with an interim dividend of 4.5 cents per share, the company's full-year dividend totaled 9 cents per share, up from the prior-year dividend of 7.5 cents per share. The final dividend will be payable on or around June 15.
Guotai Junan International Holdings is a unit of Guotai Junan Securities Co. Ltd.
