COL Financial books mixed results in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — COL Financial Group Inc., a publicity listed stock brokerage, reported mixed results for the first quarter of 2023 amid a difficult market environment.

Its net income increased by 75.9 percent to P158.3 million in the first quarter. This was despite a decline in commission revenues by 23.5 percent to P127.7 million for the period.

Similarly, customer growth and trading activity also remained weak for the quarter, causing COL’s market share and Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to drop to 4.9 percent and seven percent, respectively.

However, due to COL’s effective cash management strategy, the company was able to take advantage of rising rates, increasing its incidental income and offsetting its weak core revenues.

In all, customers continued to entrust COL with their investable money, with client assets slightly up by over two percent to almost P108 billion at the end of March, compared to the end of the previous quarter.

In addition, COL’s Fund Source business saw its assets under administration hold steady at P4.3 billion amid weak market conditions, with customers continuing to shift and diversify their fund investments into bond and global income-generating funds.

“The macro-environment continues to remain challenging in 2023, and we are continuously looking for ways to help our customers navigate these kinds of market conditions,” said COL Financial president and CEO Dino Bate.

“Aside from providing better and more timely guidance, we’re committed to bring in better investment options that can help Filipino investors build their wealth across all kinds of market environments,” he said.