Gf Securities Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 000776) has delivered a standout performance in the first half of 2026, posting operating revenue of RMB 26.883 billion, a 74.6% year-on-year surge, alongside net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 11.652 billion, up 80.1%. This exceptional result has propelled the company to third place in revenue among 44 listed securities firms with pure brokerage operations, while its net profit ranking climbed to fourth. Over the past two years, the firm has achieved rapid growth and re-entered the top tier of investment banks. What exactly has driven this success? The answer lies in two strategic pillars: first, countering homogenization through differentiation by reinforcing its moat via an expansive asset management business, creating a competitive edge resilient enough to navigate market cycles; and second, addressing cyclicality through professional specialization, employing a clear strategic framework to foster synergy across multiple business lines, including wealth management, asset management, proprietary trading, and international operations.
Revenue Ranking Among Industry Leaders
Public records indicate that Gf Securities Co., Ltd. operates four primary business segments—investment banking, wealth management, trading and institutions, and investment management—having established subsidiaries spanning futures, public funds, private funds, and asset management. Guided by a distinctive value philosophy and pragmatic operational approach, the company has built a comprehensive, industry-leading full-service business chain. Over its 35-year history, it has focused on deepening its presence in the Greater Bay Area, expanding nationwide, and extending overseas, with key operational metrics consistently ranking among the top of China's securities firms for many years. In H1 2026, the company recorded operating revenue of RMB 26.883 billion, up 74.6% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 11.652 billion, up 80.1%. Weighted ROE stood at 8.1%, an increase of 3.25 percentage points year-on-year, with annualized ROE reaching 16.2%, a near-decade high. Among 44 listed brokers, its revenue of RMB 26.883 billion vaulted to third place, overtaking Huatai Securities and trailing only CITIC Securities and Guotai Haitong, while net profit of RMB 11.652 billion ranked fourth, a mere RMB 40 million behind third-place Huatai Securities.
In 2024, Gf Securities Co., Ltd. recorded net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 9.637 billion, up 38.11% year-on-year; this grew further in 2025 to RMB 13.702 billion, a 42.2% increase; and by H1 2026, it had already achieved RMB 11.652 billion in net profit. With such consecutive leaps in profitability, what exactly has the firm done right, and how has it leveraged its distinctive business model to traverse market cycles and reclaim a top-three position? Its strategic rationale embodies a deeply cyclical-thinking approach. First, it employs "light-capital" businesses as a stabilizer. Wealth management and asset management are quintessential light-capital operations that avoid heavy reliance on balance sheet expansion, delivering stable and sustainable income. Notably, this involves countering homogenization with differentiation, where a robust asset management system builds a formidable moat that reduces dependence on market conditions. Second, it uses "heavy-capital" businesses as a source of flexibility. Proprietary trading, while volatile, offers substantial earnings elasticity when markets are favorable. Third, it pursues internationalization to create a second growth curve, expanding cross-border operations and increasing capital injections into its Hong Kong subsidiary to uncover new growth avenues beyond domestic operations. This strategic blueprint has proven effective in practice: when market activity surges, wealth management and proprietary trading fire in tandem; during market turbulence, the asset management arm provides a steady profit base; and international operations consistently contribute incremental gains.
Countering Homogenization with Differentiation: Asset Management Builds a Deep Moat
The most unique and differentiated competitive advantage of Gf Securities Co., Ltd. lies in its stake in two leading public fund managers—holding 22.65% of E Fund Management (as one of its three equal largest shareholders) and 54.53% of GF Fund Management. Both funds have long occupied top-three positions in the industry, forming an inimitable "twin public fund" structure that serves as the company's most reliable source of revenue and profit. As of the end of June 2026, the non-money-market fund management scales of E Fund and GF Fund ranked first and third in the industry, respectively. GF Fund managed total public fund assets of RMB 1.816741 trillion, a 9.24% increase from the end of 2025. The profitability of these two funds is exceptionally robust. In H1 2026, GF Fund generated net profit of RMB 2.459 billion, up 108.4% year-on-year, while E Fund posted net profit of RMB 2.333 billion, up 24.3%; together, they contributed approximately 16% of the company's attributable net profit. The unique value of the public fund business lies in its cycle-defying stability. Historical data shows that the average net margins of GF Fund and E Fund have remained at relatively high levels, approaching those of leading overseas asset managers. Despite industry-wide fee reductions, GF Fund still achieved a 37.7% year-on-year net profit increase in 2025, reaching RMB 2.753 billion. Even during the company's most challenging periods, the asset management business provided a solid profit foundation, affording time and space for strategic transformation.
The asset management advantage of Gf Securities Co., Ltd. is difficult to replicate for several reasons. First, licenses are scarce: it is the only A-share listed company that both controls and holds a stake in two industry-leading public fund managers. Second, scale creates barriers: the non-money-market fund scales of E Fund and GF Fund exceed RMB 1.89 trillion and RMB 1.12 trillion, respectively, with enormous scale effects generating sustained brand premium and cost advantages. Third, capabilities are deeply entrenched: both fund companies have accumulated nearly two decades of experience in active investment research, product innovation, and distribution network development, forming substantial competitive barriers. The public fund business, characterized by light capital, high ROE, and counter-cyclical resilience, provides Gf Securities Co., Ltd. with stable profit contributions and valuation premiums.
Navigating Cycles Through Professionalism: Fostering Synergy Across Multiple Business Lines
China's securities industry is undergoing a profound transition from "channel-based" operations to "wealth management." Gf Securities Co., Ltd. astutely recognized this trend early, launching its investment advisory transformation as far back as 2016. In H1 2026, the firm's brokerage net revenue reached RMB 6.555 billion, up 67.2% year-on-year, ranking only behind Guotai Haitong and CITIC Securities among leading brokers. Its share of stock trading volume rose 0.56 percentage points year-on-year to 4.37%. The company is actively exploring scalable online customer acquisition, deepening services for institutional and corporate clients, and embracing AI-driven technological transformation, with "AI+" reshaping the financial services ecosystem across wealth management, investment banking, institutional business, and research applications. Financial product distribution stands out as the most impressive area of its wealth management transition. During H1 2026, the scale of financial products distributed by Gf Securities Co., Ltd. increased 22.07% from the beginning of the year, with net income from product distribution rising to 15.2% of total brokerage net revenue, up 3.88 percentage points year-on-year. Net distribution income reached RMB 920 million, a 128% surge that far outpaces the industry average. Talent lies at the core of wealth management transformation; as of the end of June 2026, the firm boasted over 4,900 investment advisors, ranking among the top in the industry.
If asset management serves as the "stabilizer," then proprietary trading acts as the "accelerator" for earnings growth. In H1 2026, the trading and institutional business segment generated revenue of RMB 9.803 billion, up 97.3% year-on-year, surpassing wealth management to become the company's largest revenue source. The surge in proprietary trading stems from several factors. First, active balance sheet expansion: financial assets grew 17.2% from the start of the year to RMB 566.3 billion by end-June 2026. Second, alongside scale expansion, the firm optimized its investment structure, significantly increasing allocations to bonds and derivatives. Third, in equity investments, Gf Securities Co., Ltd. adheres to a value-investing philosophy, integrating top-down macroeconomic strategy with bottom-up industry and stock research, while employing multi-strategy investment tools to mitigate earnings volatility. In summary, the high growth in proprietary trading benefits both from market recovery (beta) and from proactive balance sheet expansion and optimized allocation (alpha).
Investment banking also advanced steadily during the period. The firm maintains a functional positioning, focusing on national strategic priorities and emerging industrial clusters. Through enhanced industry research, client coverage, and project pipeline development, it completed 6 A-share equity financing mandates with total lead underwriting of RMB 3.578 billion, and 6 NEEQ listings during the reporting period. As of end-June 2026, the company served as sponsor supervising a total of 57 listed companies, of which "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" enterprises accounted for 77.19%. In debt financing, the firm targeted key regional markets and continuously improved project execution quality, completing 430 major credit bond issuances with lead underwriting of RMB 214.264 billion. In financial advisory, it completed 2 control-acquisition projects for listed companies with industry and regional influence, with 1 additional disclosed project involving listed company share purchases for asset restructuring.
International Business Emerges as a Third Growth Engine
Internationalization is a key strategic focus for Gf Securities Co., Ltd. in recent years, with GF Holdings (Hong Kong) serving as the core platform. In H1 2026, GF Holdings (Hong Kong) generated revenue of RMB 1.596 billion, up 86.8% year-on-year, and net profit of RMB 910 million, up 76.6%, contributing 7.1% of total profit. The share of overseas business revenue climbed from 2.9% in 2023 to 5.0% in 2024 and 7.6% in 2025, reaching 8.0% in H1 2026. The firm is capitalizing on opportunities from the "15th Five-Year Plan," deepening its integrated domestic-international strategy to accelerate momentum in its international business. Anchored to its internationalization goals and leveraging the "One GF" operating model, it continues to expand overseas research coverage, deliver landmark Hong Kong listings, and comprehensively upgrade cross-border integrated service capabilities to efficiently support Chinese enterprises venturing abroad. In overseas equity financing, the firm completed 11 projects with total issuance scale of HKD 45.814 billion, ranking fifth among Chinese brokers in the Hong Kong market. In overseas debt, it completed 23 Chinese offshore bond mandates with underwriting of HKD 32.724 billion. In overseas wealth management, product offerings have been enriched, client structures optimized, and both income and asset scale have steadily grown. GF Futures has advanced its internationalization, with overseas subsidiaries reporting year-on-year performance growth and receiving multiple honors from the Hong Kong Exchange. In overseas investment management, GF Holdings (Hong Kong), as one of the first RQFII institutions, focuses on core sectors including high-end manufacturing, TMT, consumer, and biotech, with certain investments having successfully exited via M&A or IPOs.
In 2026, capital market reforms are deepening comprehensively, endogenous stabilization mechanisms are being reinforced, and high-level institutional two-way opening is expanding steadily. Gf Securities Co., Ltd. states that it will steadfastly uphold the political and people-centered nature of financial work, fully leverage its functional role as a "service provider" for direct financing and a "gatekeeper" for the capital market, anchor its core positioning of serving high-quality real economy development, comprehensively implement the "15th Five-Year Plan" deployment, diligently execute the "five major articles" of finance, and continuously refine core professional capabilities to contribute to the modernization of China and the construction of a financial powerhouse.
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