Net profit rises 14.1% to 352.77 billion won
Operating profit falls 33.6% quarter-on-quarter
Retail customer assets reach 578.7 trillion won; WM, IB revenues hold steady
High dividend yield keeps shareholder return expectations alive
Samsung Securities posted consolidated operating profit of 448.98 billion won ($336 million) in the third quarter of this year, up 11.7 percent from a year earlier. Net profit for the period rose 14.1 percent to 352.77 billion won.
The results came despite a sluggish domestic stock market and declining trading volumes, with steady earnings from the wealth management (WM) division and stable contributions from the investment banking (IB) division helping the brokerage outperform its peers.
According to preliminary consolidated financial statements disclosed Thursday, Samsung Securities recorded pretax profit of 480.4 billion won in the third quarter, up 16.5 percent year-on-year. Sales rose 122.9 percent to 6.07 trillion won. Operating profit, however, fell 33.6 percent from the second quarter, when the brokerage industry had enjoyed a boom.
For the first three quarters of this year combined, cumulative sales reached 22.86 trillion won, up 116.4 percent from the same period a year earlier. Cumulative operating profit grew 65.9 percent to 1.73 trillion won, while cumulative net profit rose 63.1 percent to 1.29 trillion won.
In the WM division, customer base expansion and financial product sales revenue underpinned earnings. Retail customer assets on a separate basis stood at 578.7 trillion won at the end of the third quarter, up 47.1 percent year-on-year. The number of high-net-worth customers climbed 52.7 percent to 524,000.
Financial product sales revenue also increased. Net fee income from wrap accounts rose 75.9 percent year-on-year to 20.1 billion won, while fund-related revenue grew 6.6 percent to 26.3 billion won.
The IB division recorded total revenue of 81.8 billion won on a separate basis. Equity capital market revenue surged 147.8 percent year-on-year to 11.4 billion won, and mergers and acquisitions revenue rose 120.9 percent to 9.5 billion won. The division completed the initial public offering of Ingenia Therapeutics and an acquisition financing deal for Chungho Nice during the quarter.
Jo A-hae, a researcher at Meritz Securities, said Samsung Securities is well positioned to collect stable WM fees given that customer assets expanded from 356 trillion won at the end of the second quarter of 2025 to 652 trillion won at the end of the second quarter of 2026. "Although volatility in investment gains and losses remains elevated amid heightened financial market volatility, the company will demonstrate its ability to defend investment performance through a conservative trading strategy," Jo said.
Jo added that projected dividend yields of 8.5 percent in 2026 and 8.3 percent in 2027 make Samsung Securities an attractive high-dividend play, and that expectations for further expansion of shareholder returns remain valid.
kacew@heraldcorp.com
