Fee-based revenue to sustain Asia Plus

Source: Bangkok Post, ThailandSept.迷你倉 10--Asia Plus Securities Plc (ASP) expects higher revenue and net earnings in the third quarter on a potential increase in fee-based revenue that could shield the firm from volatile daily stock trading.Chief executive Kongkiat Opaswongkarn said ASP's growth momentum could continue over the next two quarters, with more than 20 investment banking deals in the pipeline to drive growth.He said stock trading value is still higher than last year despite a slippage in the past two quarters.The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) earlier raised its average daily trading value target to 49.5 billion baht for this year from 32 billion baht last year, as the level surged 90% to 61.5 billion baht in the first six months of 2013.ASP reported second-quarter revenue of 747 million baht, more than doubling the 369 million baht of the same period last year.Net profit during the three months to June jumped to 244 million baht from 69.1 million a year earlier.Mr Kongkiat said ASP has diversified its revenue structure into other securities business besides brokerage.The brokerage business contributed 69% of ASP's first-half revenue, while investment generated 12%, asset management 10% and investment banking the rest.Mr Kongkiat said revenue from the other areas will probably rise as brokerage revenue declines. ASP has 26 investment banking deals in the works _ 12 initial public offerings, two public offerings and 12 advisory deals."In the US market, securities firms can do more business," said Mr Kongkiat."Law and regulations there ar儲存 more relaxed than in the Thai stock market. Securities firms in the US can invest in new stocks or IPOs of the company involved in the offering."Tellingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission is now letting brokers invest in the equity market through their proprietary trading portfolios."This channel could drive more revenue to securities in the future," said Mr Kongkiat.He gave his word that ASP has a "Chinese wall" between the office trading portfolio and investor trading, and the proprietary portfolio and brokerage business are separate and barred from sharing information with each other.As for speculation by the group of brokers known as the Gang of 4pm, which teams up in late trading to drive share prices higher, he said ASP has "no policy for day trading" and invests mainly in foreign markets."The market regulator has tried to catch those people behind the unusual moves of the market," said Mr Kongkiat."At first they thought it was foreign investors, then watching the equity trigger fund, and now pointing to brokerage accounts. I think the regulator should investigate in depth before leaking that to the public, for brokers may be doing arbitrage trading such as selling common stock but taking long positions on futures contracts, which happens regularly in the global market."The SET index remains cheap for medium- and long-term investing at about 1,300 points, he said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Bangkok Post (Bangkok, Thailand) Visit the Bangkok Post (Bangkok, Thailand) at .bangkokpost.com Distributed by MCT Information Services新蒲崗迷你倉