Globlex Securities plans to maintain its earnings growth this year by boosting market share, investment portfolio and revenue from other businesses.
The SET head office on Ratchadaphisek Road has been closed since Tuesday after antigovernment protesters put it on their shutdown list. WISIT THAMNGERN
It will also reduce expenses to offset lower brokerage fee income stemming from bearish stock trading.
The company is eyeing a 3% market share this year, up from 2.83% last year, said CEO Thanapisal Koohapremkit.
To attract more customers and encourage existing ones to trade more, Globlex will use its investment education programme on futures and stock trading.
The existing online trading platform and a new marketing team to be recruited soon will attract new customers, he said.
Securities borrowing and lending, futures trading and an online trading upgrade to better support foreign markets trading are also the focused areas.
With the business plan, the company aims at 832 million baht in revenue, 85% of which will derive from trading fees.
The rest will come from other businesses such as investment banking, as well as fee-based and interest incomes.
Globlex is the main income contributor to its parent SET-listed Globlex-Holding Management, which saw a whopping net-profit jump in its first nine months of last year to 112.58 million baht from 6.77 million baht in the previous year.
Globlex expected the average daily stock trading value to decline to 36 billion baht this year from 48 billion last year in the wake of the economic slowdown and political uncertainties.
"So it is going to be a difficult year for securities business. Also, there are 3-4 new players which will further intensify competition," he said.
Thawatchai Assawapornchai, research manager at Globlex Securities, said it is likely foreign investors will return to emerging markets including Thailand after global leading brokerage firms including Goldman Sachs have underweighted investment in the US.
In Thailand case, they may recommend accumulating shares until the political tensions ease and a new government is installed.
Foreign investors yanked 194.7 billion baht out of the Thai stock market in 2013.
Globlex views the SET index in the short term will move in a range of 1,388 and 1,561, based on listed companies' earnings growth of 11% this year, the policy rate at 2.25% and 2013 economic growth of 3.5%.
Recommended sectors are oil and gas _ PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP), Banpu (BANPU) and PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) _ banks including Bangkok Bank (BBL), Kasikornbank (KBANK), Krungthai Bank (KTB) and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), and property developers such as Central Pattana (CPN) and Supalai (SPALI).
Globlex Holding Management recently appointed Soros Sakornvisa as its new chief executive, effective from Wednesday.
GBX's shares rose four satang to close the market yesterday at 1.05 baht in trade worth of 19.75 million baht.