Mirae Asset Securities (006800) posted a net loss of 405.6 billion won on a consolidated basis in the third quarter of this year. It was profitable in both the previous quarter and the same quarter a year earlier. Valuation losses on investment assets such as SpaceX were reflected in earnings. The company also unveiled a new shareholder return policy the same day that will cancel 65 million common treasury shares.
According to a filing on the 12th, net profit in the previous quarter was 1.9052 trillion won. Net profit in the third quarter last year was 343.8 billion won. Net loss attributable to controlling shareholders this quarter was 394.1 billion won. The operating loss came to 502.2 billion won and the pretax loss to 520.6 billion won. Revenue was 7.5005 trillion won, down 65.3% from the previous quarter and 7.1% from a year earlier.
The loss far exceeded market expectations. The third-quarter net profit consensus compiled by FnGuide was a loss of 60.9 billion won. The actual loss is about 6.7 times that figure. On a controlling-shareholder basis, the loss was 117 billion won larger than the consensus loss of 277.1 billion won.
The company also cited depressed market trading as a cause of the weak results. Excluding proprietary investment (PI) losses, recurring profit for the third quarter was about 380 billion won. The company explained that its core business's earning power is being maintained.
Cumulative results for the year remained on an improving trend. Cumulative net profit through the third quarter was 2.5016 trillion won, up 148.2% from a year earlier. Cumulative net profit attributable to controlling shareholders was 2.4981 trillion won, up 149.2%. Cumulative pretax profit rose 156.2% to 3.3657 trillion won.
Cumulative pretax profit of overseas subsidiaries was 713 billion won. Up 138% from the same period a year earlier, it set a new record on a cumulative third-quarter basis. Annualized return on equity (ROE) based on net profit was 24%, up 13 percentage points in a year.
The new shareholder return policy will apply from 2027 to 2029. The company said it was the result of weighing how to use the treasury shares it held after the merger from the perspective of the intent of the Commercial Act and shareholder value.
It holds 108,338,501 common treasury shares. About 60% of these, or 65 million shares, will be canceled immediately after next year's regular shareholders' meeting. Converted at the closing price on the 11th, that is worth 1.4 trillion won. For the remaining shares, it will consider additional cancellation or using them as a source of shareholder returns. The principle of returning at least 35% of consolidated adjusted net profit through dividends, treasury share purchases and the like remains unchanged.
Mirae Asset Securities has set its shareholder return policy in three-year cycles since 2018, with the aim of making the scale of returns predictable in advance. The amount returned through dividends and treasury share cancellations since 2021 exceeds 2.2 trillion won. The shareholder return ratio over the past two years was about 40%.
A company official said that, based on the experience accumulated through its overseas expansion, it will accelerate the point at which it earns profits in advanced markets as well. "We will actively use profits generated through local investment and business at our overseas subsidiaries as a source of shareholder returns by channeling them back to the domestic head office as dividends," he said.