[Event] Ruida Futures announced 2024 interim results: 1) Revenue for the first half of the year was 1 billion yuan, +65.4% year over year; net profit to mother was 0.14 billion yuan, +16.6% year over year; corresponding EPS was 0.31 yuan, ROE 5.05%, +0.5pct year over year. 2) Q2 revenue was 0.72 billion yuan, a significant increase of 225% year over year. Net profit to mother was 0.06 billion yuan, +2.9% year over year, a significant decrease from +32.3% in Q1. 3) Net assets to mother were 2.7 billion yuan, +1.5% at the beginning of the year and -1.2% at the end of Q1.

The company's futures brokerage business came under pressure in the first half of the year, but asset management and risk management showed outstanding performance. By business segment, the operating profit of the futures brokering/asset management/risk management business was 0.109 billion yuan, 0.018 billion yuan, and 0.066 billion yuan, respectively, which was -40.0%, +13.8% compared with the same period last year, and turned a loss into profit (loss of 0.035 billion yuan for the same period of 2023).

Futures brokerage business: Net income from handling fees declined, and customer equity grew steadily. 1) Brokerage revenue was 0.245 billion yuan, -16.2% YoY; net handling fee revenue (parent company caliber) was 0.173 billion yuan, -26.0% YoY.

2) The parent company added 7,394 new customers, including 272 new institutional customers. The customer deposit at the end of the period was 11.458 billion yuan, +11.2% compared to the beginning of the year, of which institutional customers accounted for 62.7%.

Risk management business: The scale of margin trading rebounded and rebounded, and the OTC derivatives business continued to improve. 1) Risk management business revenue of 0.703 billion yuan, +167.1% year over year, mainly due to a sharp increase in the scale of the base difference trading business. 2) In the first half of the year, OTC derivatives transactions achieved actual nominal principal of 53.989 billion yuan and premium income of 0.144 billion yuan, +38% and +63%, respectively. There are 59 types of market making, and the market share of options trading turnover in the first half of the year was 12.1%.

Asset management & public fund business: The asset management business has grown significantly, and the scale of public fund management continues to decline.

1) Asset management business: Revenue for the first half of the year was 0.037 billion yuan, +27.3% year-on-year, and the asset management equity scale was 2.053 billion yuan, +3.5% compared to the beginning of the year. 2) Public fund business: As of mid-2024, Ruida Fund managed a total of 4 hybrid funds with a size of 87.95 million yuan, -6.3% compared to the beginning of the year.

Overseas business: Maintaining a rapid growth trend, the company accelerated the layout of overseas business. Overseas business revenue was 10.65 million yuan, +160% YoY. Currently, the Hong Kong subsidiary is actively developing overseas asset management business. It has registered and established an open-ended fund company, successfully launched a number of QFII special account products, and is also actively preparing to issue US dollar funds involving overseas markets.

Maintain a “neutral” rating. We believe that with the improvement of the economic environment and the recovery in futures market turnover, the pressure on the company's futures brokerage business may ease somewhat. Referring to the A-share comparable company situation, give the company 18-19x2024E PE, and get the company's reasonable value range of 11.18-11.80 yuan. On August 27, 2024, the company's stock price corresponded to 2024E PE 17x, maintaining a “neutral” rating.

Risk warning: Commodity price fluctuations exceeded expectations, and domestic futures market regulatory policies changed.