A bumper harvest year! “Feng Nian Chu Da Li”! CITIC, Guotai Haitong, CICC, and others generated over 10 billion yuan in proprietary income last year.

Investing in stocks relies on Golden Kylin Analysts’ Reports, authoritative, professional, timely, comprehensive, helping you uncover potential thematic opportunities!

Reporter | Chen Jing

The disclosure period for annual reports of listed securities firms has entered a dense phase. As of April 6, nearly 30 listed securities firms have completed their annual report disclosures, accounting for more than half of all listed firms, with the overall performance outlook gradually becoming clearer.

Wind data shows that in 2025, the A-share market presents a comprehensive upward trend, with the Shanghai Composite Index, Shenzhen Component Index, and ChiNext Index rising by 18.41%, 29.87%, and 49.57% respectively. The total annual trading volume reached 419.86 trillion yuan, with an average daily trading volume of 1.73 trillion yuan, both hitting record highs for the year.

The significant increase in market trading activity has laid a solid foundation for the recovery of core business sectors of securities firms, among which proprietary trading, as the “ballast” of securities firm performance, performed especially well, becoming the strongest engine for industry growth.

From the disclosed annual report data, the profitability contribution of proprietary trading continues to stand out. Choice Financial Terminal shows that, as of now, 28 listed securities firms and their associated listed companies that have announced annual reports have achieved a combined securities investment income of 4.2M yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.39%.

Behind this growth trend is the precise grasp of investment strategies by securities firms. Halo (heavy assets, low淘汰率) trading, a hot topic in global capital markets from late 2025 to early 2026, focuses on targets with tangible asset barriers, not easily disrupted by AI technology, and with stable cash flows. Leading sectors include consumer, utilities, and financials.

CITIC Securities points out that Halo trading more reflects phased style rotation rather than a new long-term growth paradigm, but securities firms have accurately implemented this logic in their layouts. For example, China Merchants Securities (600999.SH) acquired 12.7591 million shares of Yuegang Expressway A (000429.SZ) with an annualized dividend yield over 4% at the end of 2025; Guotai Haitong (601211.SH) holds 122 million shares of Postal Savings Bank (601658.SH), 13.064 million shares of Ninghu High-speed (600377.SH), among others, aligning with Halo trading core logic.

In addition to targets related to Halo trading, resource cycle stocks and hard technology fields are also key directions for securities firms’ proprietary layouts. CITIC Securities (600030.SH) appears on the shareholder list of 11 listed companies, having newly acquired about 38.94 million shares of Shengtun Mining (600711.SH) in Q4 last year, consistent with the long-term value recovery logic of resource commodities, and slightly increased holdings in Shandong Haihua (000822.SZ).

CICC (601995.SH) newly acquired about 19.05 million shares of Chi Hong Zinc & Germanium (600497.SH) and 1.7947 million shares of China Aluminum International (601068.SH), expanding its cycle stock positions; Shenwan Hongyuan (000166.SZ) holds 15.8117 million shares of Zangge Mining (000408.SZ) and 22.2365 million shares of Hongda Co., Ltd. (600331.SH), also representing resource cycle stock strategies.

In the hard technology sector, Huatai Securities (601688.SH) allocated funds to Jinhe Commercial Management (603682.SH), entering the industrial digitalization service track; GF Securities (000776.SZ) has positions in Zhen’an Technology (300767.SH) and Southern Power Digital (301638.SH). CICC also bets on high-end military manufacturing, holding about 1.62 million shares of Aero Engine Corporation of China (600391.SH), demonstrating the securities firms’ judgment on future industry trends.

In terms of proprietary business income, leading securities firms leverage strong capital strength and professional research capabilities to maintain advantages in this area. CITIC Securities’ proprietary income in 2025 reached 17.3k yuan, up 46.53% year-on-year, remaining the industry leader; Guotai Haitong’s proprietary income was 188.63B yuan, up 72.01%, showing rapid growth; several firms including CICC, Huatai Securities, and Shenwan Hongyuan all exceeded 10 billion yuan in proprietary income.

Small- and medium-sized securities firms also demonstrate strong performance resilience. Guolian Minsheng’s proprietary income increased over 200% year-on-year; Zhongyuan Securities (601375.SH) grew by over 80%. For some smaller firms, proprietary trading has become the primary revenue source, with Hongta Securities (601236.SH) earning 13.07M yuan from proprietary investments in 2025, accounting for 71.8% of total revenue, becoming a core pillar of the company’s performance.

It is noteworthy that in 2025, proprietary business of securities firms has shown a shift from directional investments to diversified and稳健 strategies. Top firms are accelerating towards a model of “fixed income底仓 + quantitative hedging + derivatives arbitrage,” reducing reliance on one-sided market trends.

Corresponding to the impressive performance of proprietary business, the overall performance of listed securities firms shows a pattern of “majority growth, some divergence.” Among those that have disclosed annual reports, Western Securities (002673.SZ) is the only firm with revenue decline, achieving 16.44M yuan in 2025, down 10.84% year-on-year, but its net profit attributable to parent still grew by 24.97%, reaching 38.6B yuan. The company states that the revenue decline was mainly due to decreases in revenue and costs from bulk commodity trading.

Guolian Minsheng and Guotai Haitong, as representatives of completed mergers and acquisitions, lead in performance growth. Guolian Minsheng achieved revenue of 25.4B yuan, up 185.99%, with net profit attributable to parent of 1.75B yuan, up 405.49%; Guotai Haitong’s revenue was 5.99B yuan, up 87.40%, with net profit attributable to parent of 1.75B yuan, up 113.52%.

Additionally, securities firms like Zhongyuan Securities, Founder Securities (601901.SH), and Guohai Securities (000750.SZ) also saw net profit attributable to parent increase by over 50%. Notably, Guohai Securities’ revenue grew only 7% year-on-year, but net profit attributable to parent surged by 79.57%, indicating improved profitability efficiency.

As annual report disclosures advance, the top ten securities firms by net profit are becoming clearer, with further concentration at the top. CITIC Securities leads with revenue of 7.67B yuan in 2025, up 28.79%, and net profit surpassing 30 billion yuan, reaching 2.01B yuan, up 38.58%. Guotai Haitong ranks second, with a revenue and net profit gap of 11.7 billion yuan and 2.2 billion yuan respectively compared to CITIC, forming a “dual leader” pattern.

Other firms with net profits exceeding 10 billion yuan include Huatai Securities (63.11B yuan), GF Securities (27.81B yuan), China Galaxy (601881.SH) (12.52 billion yuan), China Merchants Securities (12.35 billion yuan), and Shenwan Hongyuan Securities (74.85B yuan). CICC and CITIC Construction Investment (601066.SH) follow closely with net profits of 30.08B and 16.38B yuan respectively, maintaining a stable top ten group.

Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Non-Banking Chief Analyst Luo Zhuanhui pointed out that the core drivers of high performance growth in securities firms are two major business sectors: one is the brokerage and margin trading businesses closely tied to market trading activity, and the other is proprietary trading, serving as the industry’s “ballast.” Since securities industry performance is highly correlated with core market indicators such as trading volume and stock-bond asset gains in the A-share market, investors can track these indicators to make forward-looking judgments on industry performance.

Zhonghang Securities told Jiami News that in 2025, domestic capital market activity continues to rise, with the equity market gradually warming. The trading volume in Shanghai and Shenzhen increased significantly year-on-year, directly driving the comprehensive recovery of core securities business sectors. Specifically, brokerage revenue steadily grew with increased trading volume; margin trading balances rose as market risk appetite improved, with interest income contributions significantly enhanced; proprietary trading capitalized on the market rebound by optimizing investment portfolios, greatly boosting investment returns, becoming the core engine for securities industry growth in 2025.

CITIC Construction Investment told Jiami News that the securities sector is experiencing three positive marginal changes, laying a solid foundation for exceeding performance expectations in 2026. First, the active trading volume in the first half of the year has basically established a trend of significant year-on-year growth, likely leading to performance surpassing market expectations; second, the impressive growth in new account openings at the start of the year indicates that incremental funds are accelerating to build momentum, injecting new vitality into the sector; third, the marginal expansion of securities firms’ bond issuance scale will effectively drive leverage levels higher, helping to break through the industry’s high ROE levels.