HONG KONG, July 23, 2026 - (ACN Newswire) - When evaluating the investment value of a financial institution, the distinction between "one-time gains" and "operational improvements" is crucial. CMBC Capital (1141.HK), with a historical peak market cap of HK$ 30 billion, is now accelerating its return to that peak. Its 2025 annual report reveals a quality-driven growth, not a simple profit spike.
Annual report data shows that in 2025, the company achieved total revenue of HK$467 million, a year-on-year increase of 28.65%; profit for the year was HK$151 million, up 197.73% from HK$50.79 million in 2024; basic earnings per share were 13.77 HK cents, a 200% increase from 4.59 HK cents in the same period last year. In terms of profitability indicators, the operating profit margin was 62.54%, net profit margin 32.35%, return on equity (ROE) 10.03%, and return on assets (ROA) 3.23%. Among small and mid-sized brokers in the Hong Kong capital market industry, this set of data places the company in a clearly improving tier.
But what deserves more attention is the optimization of the revenue structure. In 2025, commission and fee income was HK$320 million, a significant increase from HK$218 million in 2024, indicating that fee-based businesses—such as securities underwriting, asset management, and corporate sponsorship—are becoming the main engine of revenue growth. By segment: asset management income was HK$166 million (accounting for 35.56%), securities income HK$104 million (22.33%), fixed income direct investment income HK$99.39 million (21.26%), and corporate finance and advisory income approximately HK$80 million. Among these, securities income surged 116.9% year-on-year, and corporate finance and advisory income grew 100.6% year-on-year.
This pattern of "double-digit growth in fee-based income" aligns with the company’s strategic direction of building a "light-asset investment bank." Compared to the heavy-capital model that relies on proprietary investments for returns, the light-capital model offers greater replicability and resilience to economic cycles. This is why, despite fluctuations in the global interest rate environment in 2025, the company still achieved leapfrog profit growth.
It should be objectively noted that the substantial profit increase this period includes a reversal of impairment losses from the full repayment of a margin financing client, which contributed approximately HK$14 million to the year-on-year improvement (impairment losses decreased from 18.19 million to HK$4.96 million). Excluding this non-recurring factor, the year-on-year growth rate of operating profit remains at a high level, indicating that the quality of growth is solid.
On the balance sheet side, as of December 31, 2025, the company’s total assets stood at HK$5.525 billion, up 43.72% year-on-year; current assets accounted for 99.26% of total assets, with a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41, indicating a highly liquid asset structure. Total liabilities were HK$3.897 billion, with an Debt-to-asset ratio of 70.54%. The equity multiplier was 3.39, which is a reasonable level for a licensed financial institution. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to HK$743 million, providing ample liquidity buffer for the company’s business expansion.
However, operating cash flow is an aspect of this annual report that requires a cautious view: net cash generated from operating activities was -HK$345 million, with operating cash flow per share of -HK$0.31. This was mainly due to factors such as financial asset allocation and an increase in accounts receivable. For an institution primarily engaged in financial asset trading and underwriting business, the volatility of operating cash flow is naturally high, but the persistently negative status still reminds investors to pay attention to the matching pace between balance sheet expansion and cash flow recovery.
From a growth perspective, the company’s operating revenue has a compound annual growth rate of -16.47% over the past three years, while net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company has a compound annual growth rate of 170.23% over the same period. The divergence between these two figures indicates that the company has undergone business structure adjustments and challenges associated with restructuring over the past three years, and 2025 is the inflection point year when the transformation results are concentratedly released. This also explains why the market is paying attention to its valuation re-rating—analysis from Economic Observer Online points out that the company’s price-to-earnings ratio (TTM) is 13.93 times, lower than some peers, and the better-than-expected performance may trigger valuation re-rating.
Overall, the 2025 annual report confirms the arrival of the operating inflection point for CMBC Capital: fee-based businesses have become the main growth engine, the light-capital model is gradually materializing, and profitability indicators have comprehensively improved. However, investors should also soberly recognize that the contribution from one-time impairment reversal, the pressure on operating cash flow, and the fact of negative revenue compound growth over the past three years all mean that this "improvement" requires continuous verification over the next 2-3 years. It is an encouraging annual report, but not one that can be blindly optimistic about.