NH Investment enjoys solid growth abroad

The NH Investment & Securities head office on Yeouido, Seoul. / Yonhap

By Jhoo Dong-chan

NH Investment & Securities, which has enhanced its overseas business networks over several years, has enjoyed solid growth in earnings abroad for the first three months of this year.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), NH Investment & Securities posted a 1.83 billion won ($15.3 million) operating profit in overseas markets for the first quarter.

The securities firm's net profit was 12.4 billion won, up 330 percent from a year ago and a quarterly record.

Earnings from overseas markets stood at 15.66 billion last year, but NH Investment has already achieved about 79 percent of those earnings in the first three months.

In a bid to strengthen its competitiveness, NH Investment's corporate body in Hong Kong issued new stock to attract 140 billion won in September. In March, the Hong Kong entity's capital stood at 436.5 billion won.

Utilizing its enhanced cash reserves, NH Investment Hong Kong has actively engaged in overseas bond trading and investment banking deals. Its efforts came to fruition as it posted a 10.2 billion won net profit in the first quarter.

NH Investment Indonesia enjoyed a 2.3 billion won net profit in the period thanks to its strong earnings in the stock brokerage and initial public offering (IPO) sector.

The corporate body is scheduled to conclude two more IPO deals by the end of the year.

Apart from its two corporate bodies in Hong Kong and Indonesia, NH Investment America marked strong earnings as it is financing a power plant project in the country.

“NH Investment & Securities' corporate body in the U.S. is expected to continue its momentum in the second quarter thanks to strong loan income from the mortgage division in April,” an NH Investment & Securities official said.

“The securities firm will continuously look for opportunities from other promising markets while expanding its business portfolio to satisfy customers' demand.”

According to the Korea Exchange, NH Investment's share price closed at 13,300 won Thursday, up 200 won, or 1.53 percent, from the previous session.