Jan. 9, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Everbright Securities is forecasting a 15% net profit increase for 2007, said its President Xu Haoming on Monday. Xu added that unaudited net earnings for 2006 reached RMB 800 million, without providing the percentage of increase from the same period in 2005.

Looking ahead, the company is looking to extend the range of businesses, including warrants, margin and index futures trading due to the bullish trend of the Mainland’s securities markets. China's benchmark stock index jumped 130% in 2006 to become the world's top-performing equity market. To fuel its expansion plans, Everbright is intending to raise more than RMB 1 billion through a private placement to four or five institutional investors.

China Everbright, Everbright Securities’ second-largest shareholder, will see its stake drop from 46.6% to about 40% after the share placement. Xu, however, did not say if Everbright Securities' largest shareholder, China Everbright Group, would see a dip in ownership, which currently stands at 48.5%.