Tetrad down but optimistic

Tetrad Securities had a mediocre performance during the year ending September but it says profitability improved significantly during the second half because of increased volatility in the market which was largely premised on speculation that the government might revise its monetary policy which has seen negative interests rates since January 2001.

Though its interest income increased marginally from $411.3 million to $418.2 million, net interest income was down from $211.2 million to $205 million.

Fees and commission income was also down from $49.8 million to $42 million. The biggest drop was in gains arising from dealing securities. This fell from $123.3 million to $4.7 million resulting in operating income dropping from $517.9 million to $381.3 million.

Profit before tax dropped from $362.2 million to $208.4 million with net profit falling from $252.3 million to $138.1 million.

The company says though its results were down from the previous year, profitability improved in the second six months.

It says this was due to increased volatility as a result of speculation in the market about revised monetary policy. Various liquidity movements encouraged a short market for most of the period and this resulted in firm short term interest rates.

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