Mumbai-based brokerage firms Religare Enterprises and Asit C Mehta Financial Services have reported dismal results for the third quarter ended December 31, in line with the depressed stock markets as stock trading is the primary source of income for these firms.
Asit C Mehta suffered a sharp fall in net profit -- 99 per cent -- to just Rs 48,000. It had posted a net profit of Rs 19 lakh in the same quarter of the last financial year. Its income from operations fell 98 per cent from Rs 1.33 crore to just Rs 2.46 lakh.
Religare fared worse, falling into the red with a net loss of Rs 3.84 crore compared with a net profit of more than Rs 3 crore in the previous corresponding quarter. Its income from operations fell 48.55 per cent from Rs 5.19 crore to Rs 2.67 crore.
According to the broker community, most of its members have cut their operations drastically and are trying to save every penny they can. “Stock brokers have realised that there would not be any business opportunity at least for the next one year due to which they are busy closing down branches and cutting costs, even though nobody is talking about it openly,” said one of them.
A week ago, Motilal Oswal Financial Services reported a 62 per cent drop in net profit. Kochi-based Geojit Financial Services had reported a net profit of Rs 38.63 crore, thanks to the Rs 40 crore it received as compensation from BNP Paribas for discontinuing the commodity business. Without this, the firm would have reported a Rs 1.37 crore loss, compared with a Rs 5.2 crore profit in the previous corresponding quarter.
