Yaocai Securities Finance (01428)'s comprehensive net profit after tax for the first nine months of 2024/25 was approximately HK$476 million, up about 8% year-on-year

According to the Zhitong Finance App, Yaocai Securities Finance (01428) issued an announcement. According to the board's preliminary review of the Group's latest unaudited comprehensive management accounts for the first nine months of 2024/25 (that is, April 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024), the Group's unaudited consolidated net profit after tax was approximately HK$476 million, up about 8% from the consolidated net profit after tax of about HK$442 million in the same period last year. As of December 31, 2024, the Group's total number of customer accounts reached 579,000.

According to reports, the investment climate in Hong Kong, China's financial sector has not improved since the epidemic. Regardless of whether transactions and increases were not as good as before, single-day transactions once shrunk below HK$80 billion, lagging behind other important financial countries in the world, causing investors to lose confidence in the prospects of Hong Kong stocks and their intention to enter the market. Meanwhile, at a time when the Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets have been in their darkest period, starting in mid-September, there was a sudden “timely rain” to moisturize Hong Kong stocks. First, the US Federal Reserve finally announced a 0.5 percent interest rate cut on September 18, and the Bank of Hong Kong of China followed suit, which meant that the high interest rate cycle of more than four years has come to an end. Hong Kong stocks also ushered in the happy news of their first interest rate cut. The Hang Seng Index (“Hang Seng Index”) finally broke through the 18,300 point mark, and trading also began to improve. The single-day turnover surpassed about HK$150 billion, and finally began to improve slightly. At a time when investors are still in doubt about whether Hong Kong stocks can turn around, the market has once again ushered in another round of happy news. The country made a series of moves to save the weak economy on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the National Day, but the bailout market all thought it was different from the past, because most of the measures aimed at activating the capital market as the primary goal, by improving the liquidity of the capital market, thereby improving the domestic demand problem that had plagued the market for a long time. The Shanghai Composite Index immediately rose to a high level in recent years, and Hong Kong stocks, which have relied on the rise in A-shares and are awaiting domestic bailouts, also rebounded. The upward trend was the strongest since the end of May 2022. The Hang Seng Index once rose above 23,000 points, and the transaction hit a record high of HK$620.7 billion in Hong Kong's history. The domestic stock market and Hong Kong stocks suddenly washed away the decline of nearly 3 years, and the momentum can be described as uninterrupted.

However, Yaocai Group, which has been rooted in Hong Kong for nearly 30 years, has experienced adversity in Hong Kong's economic environment many times over the years, and has always insisted on adopting a proactive business philosophy and continuously investing more resources in promotion strategies. The Group's advertising can be seen both online and offline. However, the Group also adopted the “people leave me and take” business philosophy. Although the stock market in other regions was superior to Hong Kong in the past, the Group's sales team never abandoned the Hong Kong market in terms of promotion; while Hong Kong stocks are still sluggish, they are still actively introducing endless and timely Hong Kong stock offers (such as “Open an account and get you a welcome bonus of up to HK$20,000”, “No commission for newcomers to trade Hong Kong stocks and China A shares in the first month without any platform fees”, “All clients can enjoy free Hong Kong stocks in the first month”, “All clients can enjoy Hong Kong stocks free of charge in real time” Quotation (LV1)”, “Margin Interest Rebate for New Customers up to HK$16,800 ” and “Transferring shares to Yao to get up to 100 shares of Tencent”) and futures promotions (such as “give customers up to $800 to buy futures”, “open 5 futures”, etc.); it also introduced “trading US stocks to get 2 shares of Manchester United, commission is only 0.008 US dollars per share, and margin interest is 4.78% per share”. At the same time, Hong Kong stock transactions began to experience a “rebirth” phenomenon in mid-September, which led to a rise in performance and customer traffic. As the Hong Kong stock turnover reached a record high of HK$620.7 billion, it also drove the Group's trading volume to a new high, which can be described as going hand in hand with market transactions.

However, at a time when investors think that the trend of the Hong Kong stock market is expected to “catch up with Japan and the US,” the Chinese stock market, which has always had a “lip and tooth” relationship with Hong Kong stocks, has not been able to accept and continue regardless of whether it is trading or rising. The trend of Hong Kong stocks is also showing signs of fatigue. The Hang Seng Index once again fell below 20,000 points, and transactions once again contracted. According to data, from January to the end of December 2024, about 40 brokerage firms have withdrawn from the Hong Kong market. In total, more than 90 local brokerage firms have stopped operating in the past 3 years. It is expected that the wave of brokerage firms will continue to close.

Entering 2025, the Group is convinced that the economy of Hong Kong, China will improve and the capital market will return to the brilliance of the Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets. In the future, the Group will adhere to the business philosophy of “low market sow, boom market harvest”. All employees will stick to their posts and continue to forge ahead actively in the market, never miss every opportunity to seek maximum returns for shareholders.