SBG Securities half year net profit rises ten times to Sh27.9m

SBG Securities has reported a 10-fold rise in net earnings to Sh27.9 million for the six months to June, signalling improved fortunes for stockbrokers after two years of falling profits.

The investment bank said that its earnings largely on increased commissions and a drop in operating expenses.

SBG’s net profit rose from the Sh2.39 million it reported in a similar period last year due to increased trading activity on the Nairobi bourse this year driven by institutional investors.

The firm also reported a drop in total expenses from Sh149.3 million to Sh127.4 million in the period.

Abraham Ongenge, chief finance officer at Stanbic Holdings #ticker:CFC, SBG’s parent company, said increased equities transactions at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) boosted the firm’s market share to 20.41 per cent in the one year to June 2017 compared with 12.2 per cent a year earlier.

“SBG Securities closed the first half of the year at position two compared to position three the previous year in terms of market share,”  Mr Ongenge told investors in Nairobi on Monday.

“Year-to-date market turnover as at June 30 was higher by 15 per cent from the previous year.”

Commissions from trading at the NSE grew by 26.4 per cent to Sh144.9 million compared to Sh114.6 million previously.

READ: Corporate bigwigs trade C-suite for rough and tumble of politics terrain

On the expense side, SBG’s staff costs dropped by Sh20.51 million, or 26.3 per cent, to Sh57.53 million.

SBG is among a select group of top stockbrokers that ride on strong foreign trading desks to dominate the equities market in terms of traded volumes, others being Kestrel Capital, Renaissance Capital, Equity Investment Bank and Standard Investment Bank.

The foreign investors have in the past two years dominated trading at the bourse, this despite the fact that they hold just 20.9 per cent of listed shares.