Investment advisory companies in South Korea saw their earnings more than double in the April-December period of last year from a year earlier on increased returns from equity investments, the financial watchdog said Thursday.

The combined net profit of 158 local and foreign investment advisers, which close their books on March 31, reached 53.6 billion won ($48.8 million) in the period, compared with 25.2 billion won in the same period last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

An investment advisory firm provides more individual- or group-tailored management services than mutual funds.

These firms earned 47.5 billion won from securities investments over the nine-month period, up 74 percent from 27.3 billion won a year ago, FSS figures showed.

Their commission income also contributed to the strong bottom line, increasing 12.7 percent on-year to 106.6 billion won from 94.6 billion won.

The top 10 advisory firms posted a net income of 40.2 billion won in the April-December period, while the rest saw their combined net swing to a profit of 28.4 billion won from a loss of 15 billion won over the same period.

The number of loss-making firms was 79, down six from the previous year, the FSS said.

Return on equity, a main gauge of profitability, rose 5.8 percentage points to 11.7 percent as of end-December.

Their assets under management rose 31.9 percent on-year to 28.5 trillion won over the cited period from 21.6 trillion won, the watchdog said. (Yonhap)