02.16.2001
Favorable earnings in January for securities companies

• Securities companies are making significant gains on the stock market rebound. 54 out of 63 integrated securities companies and 70 out of the 80 professional brokerage houses booked a profit last month.

• Barists Securities ('Bei Li', unlisted) earned number one spot with NT$563m in January. Taiwan Securities Co. (6010 'Tai Zheng Zheng') got second place with NT$487m, and Capital Securities (6005 'Qun Yi Zheng') third, ringing in NT$325m. As for foreign securities houses, UBS Warburg earned NT$20.6m, ahead of second place Credit Lyonnaise with NT$16.9m.

• Losses were also reported. President Securities Corp. (6019 'Tong Yi Zheng') and Taiwan International Securities Co. (6012 'Jin Ding Zheng') were down NT$152m and NT$17.7m for the month, respectively.

• We believe the overall improved earnings are due to companies' write-back provisions, as many of them booked significant provisions last December. Future earnings will depend greatly on stock market performance and transaction volume; we expect earnings in 2001 to exceed last year's.

WilliamFong@Primasia.com +886-[0]2-2547-8864