GF Securities Co., Ltd. (HK)
GF Securities Announced 2023 Annual Results Adhering to Principal Duties and Business Focus, Promoting the High-quality Development of the Company to a New Stage

廣發証券股份有限公司

GF Securities Co., Ltd.

（HKSE:1776; SZSE:000776）

GF Securities Announced 2023 Annual Results

Adhering to Principal Duties and Business Focus, Promoting the High-quality Development of the Company to a New Stage

(28 March 2024, Hong Kong) GF Securities Co., Ltd. (“GF Securities” or the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries within the scope of its consolidated financial statements (“subsidiaries”), the “Group”; HKSE: 1776; SZSE: 000776) announced its annual results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2023 (the “Reporting Period”). 2023 is a significant year of change for the financial industry. GF Securities has focused on its principal businesses and maintained its strength, made every effort to excel in the “Five Major Tasks” in finance with serving the real economy as our fundamental principle. The Company’s major operating indicators remained at the forefront of the industry, realizing a total revenue and other income of RMB33,298 million and a net profit attributable to shareholders of the Company of RMB6,978 million. As of 31 December 2023, the Group’s total asset amounted to RMB682,182 million, representing an increase of 10.52% as compared to the end of 2022; and equity attributable to owners of the Company amounted to RMB135,718 million, representing an increase of 12.96% as compared to the end of 2022.

Lin Chuanhui, Chairman and General Manager of GF Securities, said that during the past year, the Company has actively sought new opportunities, initiated reforms, and continuously deepened our high-quality business model; taken concrete actions and actively improved its high-quality financial service capabilities; being committed to its mission, the Company has never forgotten its original aspirations, and has been actively implementing new development concepts, promoting the high-quality development of the Company to a new stage. 2024 marks the first year to accelerate the establishment of a financial superpower. GF Securities will adhere to a people-centered value orientation, and give full play to our functions as a “service provider” of direct financing, a “gatekeeper” of the capital market and a “manager” of social wealth, and continue to promote strategic transformation and contribute to the development of new quality productivity.

Adhering to principal duties and business focus, striving to improve and strengthen core business

GF Securities has four business segments: investment banking, wealth management, trading, and institution and investment management. It has obtained full-service license and established a complete business chain with perfect layout and leading strength. The Group has maintained its main operating indicators at the leading position of the industry for many consecutive years and established its competitive advantages in areas like research, asset management and wealth management.

In the field of research, GF Securities covers 958 A-share listed companies across 28 industries in the PRC, and 141 companies listed in Hong Kong and overseas, winning authoritative awards of “New Fortune Domestic Best Research Teams (新財富本土最佳研究團隊)” and “Golden Bull Research Institution (金牛研究機構)” for many consecutive years. Meanwhile, as one of the earlier securities firms to establish an industry research institute in China, it has achieved remarkable results in researching and empowering the high-quality of development of its core business . By focusing on forward-looking research involving macroeconomic policies, regional development, and industry trends, the Company was able to provide high-quality comprehensive services for its premium clients and provide research consulting for government departments in its policy formulation and industry planning, contributing to the development of key regions and industries. At the same time, the Company explored the establishment of industrial incubation and transformation cooperation mechanism with key scientific research universities to play the role of a bridge of “technology + finance”, effectively promoting the virtuous cycle of technology, finance, and industry.

In respect of the wealth management business, the Company has taken the lead in proposing wealth management transformation in China and is currently equipped with excellent financial product research and sales capabilities and professional asset allocation capabilities. As of the end of 2023, the Company had more than 4,400 securities investment consultants, ranking No. 1 in the industry (in terms of parent company caliber). The Company ranked third amongst the securities dealers in terms of the scales of balance of public fund the agency sales of nonmonetary, the balance maintained by the agency sales of financial products of the Company increased by 13.98% as compared to the end of 2023; the sales and transfer amount of financial products of the Yitaojin E-commerce platform (including Cash Return (現金增利) and Taojin Market (淘金市場)) amounted to RMB216.8 billion.

In regions outside of the PRC, GF Securities (Hong Kong), the Group’s indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary, achieved a year-on-year increase of 28.75% in product retention and a year-on-year increase of 30.86% in wealth management income despite the downturn in the Hong Kong stock market throughout the year. The transformation towards wealth management has achieved clear significant results.

In respect of the asset management business, relying on the strengths of finance group structure, GF securities has coordinated the superior resources of its asset management institutions, established comprehensive product supply system and provided customers with strategically excellent, diversified and cross-border products to build a leading asset management brand in the industry.

As of the end of 2023, the scale of the public funds managed by GF Fund, the Group’s holding subsidiary, in aggregate reached RMB1,220.982 billion, and the total fund size excluding money market funds amounted to RMB670.246 billion, ranking third in the industry (Source: Statistics of the Company, WIND, 2024). The scale of the public funds managed by E Fund, an invested subsidiary of the Group, in aggregate reached RMB1,677.34 billion, and the total fund size excluding money market funds amounted to RMB1,013.937 billion, ranking first in the industry (Source: Statistics of the Company, WIND, 2024). GF Xinde, the Group’s wholly-owned private fund subsidiary, focused on industries such as biomedicine, intelligent manufacturing, new energy and corporate services, with the paid-in size of funds managed by GF Xinde exceeding RMB17 billion (Source: the Asset Management Association of China).

In the overseas market, the Group’s indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary, GF Investments (Hong Kong) and its subsidiaries, have focused investment in fields of high-end manufacturing, TMT, mass consumption and biomedicine. Several investment projects have been successfully exited by way of mergers and acquisitions or by listing on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong, the United States and other regions.

Adhering to prioritize investors, strengthening comprehensive financial service capabilities

Adhering to its investor-oriented value, GF Securities has enhanced its comprehensive financial service capabilities across the entire business chain and life cycle, to improve service quality for various types of clients including individual investors, institutional clients and corporate clients, and return investors with good development results.

The Company has consistently practiced the “customer-centric” business philosophy, promoted the implementation of platform-based transformation and improved the ability to serve residents’ wealth management needs. As of the end of December 2023, the Company had established 349 branches and business departments nationwide, with a presence in 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the PRC, providing solid foundation for better reaching and serving customers. Meanwhile, the Company strengthened its online customer acquisition operation, actively developed multi-channel traffic, and released a new Gen Z APP to continuously improve user experience on the Yitaojin (易淘金) platform.

In respect of the trading and institution business, the Company accelerated the promotion of high-quality development, and launched the integrated institutional service platform “GF Zhihui (廣發智匯)” to integrate corporate resources to provide comprehensive solutions for institutional and corporate customers, enhance service capabilities for institutional customer, and further improve the institutional customer service system. Meanwhile, as a primary dealer of OTC derivatives business, the Company continued to provide institutional customers with asset allocation and risk management solutions based on OTC derivatives. As of 31 December 2023, the Company has issued a total of 103,184 OTC products with an aggregate amount of approximately RMB2,445.63 billion. The market value of the products at the end of the period was approximately RMB189.524 billion, among which, 38,678 OTC products was newly released by the Company in 2023 with an aggregate amount of RMB528.826 billion.

As a direct financing “service provider”, the Company has adhered to the fundamental purpose of serving the real economy with finance, focusing on key industries, key regions and key products, and strengthened business layout in areas such as technological innovation, advanced manufacturing, healthcare and green development, and continued to improve the quality of investment banking business. During the Reporting Period, the Company completed 17 equity financing projects for which the Company acted as a lead underwriter, and the lead underwritten amount was RMB16.367 billion. Adhering to the core principle of discovering value, the Company sponsored a total of 34 companies listed on the NEEQ as the lead brokerage, of which nearly 70% were “specialized, sophisticated, distinctive and innovative” enterprises (Source: NEEQ, Statistics of the Company, 2024).

In respect of the debt financing business, leveraging on the Group’s business advantages and synergy effects, the Company continued to expand its customer coverage in key regions, resulting in a significant increase in project reserves and a continuous improvement in the industry position. In 2023, the Company acted as the lead underwriter for 416 tranches of bonds, representing a year-on-year increase of 121.28%, with a lead underwritten amount of RMB244.442 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 72.05%. Among which, the Company acted as the lead underwriter for a total of 67 tranches of bonds, including green bonds, science and technology innovation bonds, rural revitalization bonds and high-quality development bonds of the Yellow River Basin, representing a year-on-year increase of 346.67% and the underwriting scale being RMB25.634 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 226.67%.

In respect of the overseas investment banking business, the Company carried out the business primarily through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, GF Capital (Hong Kong), and completed 47 projects in which it acted as lead underwriter (including IPO, GDR, refinancing and bond offering) and as financial adviser.

In the past year, the Company actively assumed its responsibilities as a corporate citizen and has initiated the establishment of the GF Securities Social Charity Foundation in Guangdong Province, with a cumulative public welfare expenditures of over RMB280 million. The economic benefits and social benefits, as well as our own development and social development, were coordinated and aligned through the launch of, among others, the “United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Model Village” project and the “Love Playground” public welfare project. The Company was included as a constituent stock in the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainable Index Series in 2023 due to its outstanding performance in the ESG field.

Upholding philosophy of steady development, infusing fresh talent dynamics into corporate culture

As one of the few major securities companies which has not accepted investment or undergone restructuring due to operating losses among the first batch of securities companies established since the end of the 1980s to the early 1990s, GF Securities maintains its leading position in the industry, which is closely tied to its excellent corporate culture, scientific business layout, outstanding competitive advantages, and the philosophy of compliance and steady development among other core competitive advantages.

The Company attaches great importance to corporate culture and talent development, maintaining a strong sense of patriotism and upholding its mission of “creating values to realize the dream of serving the country with financial services”. The Company inherits a corporate value system centered around “inquisitiveness and integrity”, and carries forward its excellent cultural genes of an “army of doctors”. With knowledge as the guarantee and professionalism as the cornerstone, the Company serves and contributes to the real economy in terms of both quantity and quality.

To build a team with excellent professionalism and strong recognition of the Company’s corporate culture, the Company has adhered to professional development and continuously improves the long-term mechanism for talent growth. Various measures, pathways, and conditions are actively implemented to support employee development. Meanwhile, the Company constructs a robust compensation system based on principles of “Adhering to a prudent management philosophy, ensuring compliance requirements, promoting positive incentives, and enhancing the company’s long-term value”, with the employees’ compensation closely linked to the individual and overall company performance, effective functional contribution, compliance in practice, and ethical conduct. The Company continues to strengthen cultural development, adhering to an assessment orientation that prioritizes “One GF Securities, customer-centricity, safeguarding investor interests, striving for high quality, and long-term sustainable development”, with compliance in operation as the Company’s bottom line to ensure its steady and long-term development.

As of the end of 2023, the Group’s total number of employees exceeded 15,000. The operation and management team of the Company has an average of approximately 27 years of experience in securities, finance and economics-related fields and has served an average term of over 18 years in the Company with extensive experience in business and management.

In the future, GF Securities will actively implement the spirit of the Central Financial Work Conference, and continue to build a modern financial institution with “good assets, good products, good clients, and good platforms.” The Company will adhere to the development philosophy of finance for the country and finance for the people with passion and responsibility, while actively integrating into the new development landscape, serving the real economy and implementing the strategies of the nation with execution power that leaves marks on iron and traces on stones, and forging a new path amidst the tide of high-quality industry development.