Haitong Securities , China's third listed brokerage, said on Thursday its net profit soared more than nine-fold in the first half of this year on the back of a booming stock market.

The company, which obtained a back-door listing this year by merging with Shanghai Urban Agro-Business Co., booked 2.04 billion yuan ($270 million) of profit, up from 214.12 million yuan a year earlier.

Revenues jumped more than four-fold to 4.75 billion yuan as broking business and underwriting income surged, the company said in its first publicly released earnings report.

Haitong reiterated that it planned to place up to 1 billion new shares with selected strategic investors, but did not elaborate. The stock closed at 47.37 yuan on Wednesday.

At least half a dozen Chinese securities firms have applied to list through the backdoor method or via initial public offers of shares.

Northeast Securities Co., a small brokerage in northeastern China, has obtained regulatory approval to list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange by merging with Jinzhou Liulu , Jinzhou said in a statement on Thursday.