Major South Korean brokerage house Meritz Securities Co. said Monday its third-quarter earnings rose nearly 18 percent from a year ago on increased fee income.

Net profit stood at 191.2 billion won ($161.3 million) in the July-September period, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Its operating income expanded 15.4 percent on-year to 240.2 billion won in the quarter, and revenue soared 81.4 percent to 6.14 trillion won.

Meritz Securities said its third-quarter earnings were boosted by good performances of trading, arbitrage and investment banking operations.

In the first three quarters of the year, Meritz Securities saw its net profit spike 41 percent on-year to 593.2 billion won, with operating income jumping 33.1 percent to 764.7 billion won.

Its equity capital came to nearly 5.1 trillion won as of end-September, up about 10 times from 2020.

The securities company also said its consolidated return on equity, or a key measure of profitability referring to net profit divided by equity capital, reached 16 percent. (Yonhap)