South Korean futures companies saw their earnings rise 14 percent in the first half from a year earlier, helped by increased commission income and returns from derivatives investments, the financial watchdog said Sunday.

The combined net profit of seven local futures firms came to 27.7 billion won ($23.8 billion) in the April-September period, compared with 24.3 billion won in the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The companies closed their books on March 31.

The FSS said the stronger bottom line came as commission income gained 3.7 percent and profit from derivatives investments nearly doubled. All seven firms reaped profits in the first half, it added.

Samsung Futures Inc. posted the largest net profit of 11.8 billion won and Woori Futures Co. came next with 6.9 billion won, according to the watchdog.

Meanwhile, the tallied firms’ average net capital ratio, a key gauge of financial soundness, dropped 72 percentage points on-year to 676.4 percent, due to increased stock-related risks, the FSS said.

(Yonhap News)