Among the first batch of publicly listed securities firms to report their earnings, Haitong Securities Co, China's second-largest stockbroker after CITIC Securities, said its profit for 2008 fell 40 percent from a year before to 3.3 billion yuan, on sales of 7 billion yuan, down 38 percent.

It still performed better than its peers. A smaller company, Guoyuan Securities, announced a whopping 77 percent plunge in profit to 524 million yuan, after charging off a loss of 94 million yuan on proprietary investment.

The even smaller New Times Securities reported a loss of 193 million yuan for 2008, during which its expenditures, amounting to 435 million yuan, exceeded its operating revenue of 229 million yuan.

Well-capitalized brokers with large client bases are expected to do better than smaller ones in 2009, according to a report released by China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co (CCXI) on Jan 13.

The leading domestic credit rating agency gave a "negative" rating for the outlook of China's securities brokers in 2009, saying nagging market uncertainties will continue to cloud their business prospects in the coming one or two years.

Potential new businesses, such as margin financing and securities lending, are not expected to generate large profits anytime soon, the report said.

(Shanghai Daily January 16, 2009)