Tai Fook Securities Group's attributable profit in the year to March 31 has plunged 78.4 per cent from a year earlier to $39.13 million.
Commissions from securities trading sustained a $1.41 million loss, while those from its futures operation made a $2.1 million profit.
Managing director Peter Wong Shiu-hoi blamed the poor results on last year's sluggish stock market.
Mr Wong pointed out that average turnover last year on the Hong Kong stock exchange dropped to $5 billion from more than $15 billion in 1997.
Tai Fook Securities had a substantial shift of activity away from the stock market and towards the index-futures market.
This shift allowed the company to make a profit in its futures operation, Mr Wong said.
Tai Fook's attributable profit included an exceptional gain of $4.2 million, roughly the net of a write-back of $20 million of provisions in 1997 and $16 million last year.