Guoyuan Securities announced Monday evening that its net profit reached 461 million yuan (US$67.4 million) in the first half of the year, up 12.58 percent year-on-year.

Company revenue in the first half was 8.72 billion yuan, up 17.16 percent year-on-year, the Anhui-based firm said in its half-year report to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The total assets of the company topped 13.42 billion yuan by the end of June, up 12.66 percent year-on-year.

The company attributed the profit rise largely to increasing brokearage fee income, boosted by the Chinese stock market's bullish performance in the first half.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced by more than 60 percent to 2,959.36 points at the end of June.

The Shenzhen-listed firm had edged up 1.99 percent to 26.62 yuan a share Monday before the release of the report.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2009)