- First-half revenue was €161.7 million. Stripping out non-recurring items, revenue declined by 3.3%
- Costs fell by 7.8% in the first half
- The efficiency ratio for the first half was 30.7% versus 31% in 1H10, an improvement of 0.3 points. This represents almost a 15-point lead over the sector average
- The return on equity (ROE) was 35.1%, compared to 37% in 1H10
- Revenue not linked to volumes covered 110% of the first-half cost base, six points more than in 1H10
BME posted first-half net profit of €77.9 million, a decrease of 7.7% year-on-year. Stripping out non-recurring items, the year-on-year decline in 1H11 net profit narrows to 3.8% and improve 10% on 2H10. It is worth highlighting the fact that 2Q10 was shaped by high volatility and large trading volumes in the wake of heightened tension in the sovereign debt markets, which gave rise to all-time records in terms of trading volumes by value and the numbers of trades executed and brokered.
In the second quarter, the company generated net profit of €36.5 million, a year-on-year decrease of 24.6%. Once again stripping out one-offs, this decline narrows to 19.4%.
First-half revenue declined by 6.7% year-on-year to €161.7 million. Excluding non-recurring items, revenue was 3.3% less than in 1H10. Revenue amounted to €76.8 million in 2Q11, a year-on-year decrease of 19.9% (which narrows to a decline of 14.5% adjusting for extraordinary income).
Operating costs totalled €49.6 million in the first half of the year, down 7.8% year-on-year and to €25.1 million in 2Q11, a drop of 14.4% on 2Q10.
First-half EBITDA amounted to €112.1 million, down 6.2% year-on-year (and by 4.5% adjusting for non-recurring items), declining by 22.2% in 2Q11 (and by 19.9% excluding non-recurring items) to €51.7 million.
The efficiency ratio for the first half was 30.7% versus 31% in 1H10, an improvement of 0.3 points. The second-quarter ratio dipped to 30.6% from 32.7% in 2Q10. This enabled the group to maintain its almost 15-point lead over the sector average.
The return on equity (ROE) was 35.1%, compared to 37.0% in 1H10. This too represents a lead of more than 20 points over the sector average.
Revenue not linked to volumes covered 110% of BME's cost base in 1H11, up six points on coverage in 1H10.
EQUITIES
In Equities, trading volume up to June by number of trades rose by 11.5% while volume narrowed 8.1%. Total market capitalisation at the end of the six-month period was 17.5% higher than in June 2010.
Revenue from the Equities business amounted to €68.9 million in 1H11, down 7.1% year-on-year. EBITDA declined by 9.2% to €52.8 million. Second-quarter revenue and EBITDA were 22.6% and 28.7% lower year-on-year, respectively.
CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT
The number of trades settled in 1H11 rose 4% year-on-year to 21.9 million. The average daily cash value settled in the period was €323 billion, up 0.7% year-on-year.
The Clearing and Settlement unit reported EBITDA of €15.2 million in 2Q11 (-16.6% year-on-year) and €30.9 million in 1H11 (-3.9% year-on-year).
LISTINGS
Companies raised €18.68 billion on the Spanish stock market during the first half between IPOs and rights issues, 156% more than in 1H10. The IPO market came back to life in July with listings by DIA (5 July), Bankia (20 July) and Banca Cívica (21 July).
Second-quarter revenue from listings fell 10.6% on 2Q10 to €5.3 million, while first-half revenue from this business rose 5.2% to €11.6 million. EBITDA in this business unit amounted to €3 million in 2Q11 (down 12.8% year-on-year), while first-half EBITDA registered growth of 15% on 1H10.
INFORMATION
Revenue from the Information unit was €8.3 million in 2Q11 (+6.9%), while first-half revenue rose 4.3% to €16.2 million. Net of operating expenses, this unit generated EBITDA of €6.5 million in 2Q11 (+3.8%) and €13 million (+4.7%) in 1H11.
The growth in this business unit’s customer base continued, with an increase of 10.6% over 2Q10 and similar growth (10.7%) in the number of customers with a direct connection to BME's information servers.
DERIVATIVES
The overall volume of contracts traded in the Derivatives business line in the second quarter of 2011 was broadly flat year-on-year (-0.2%). 1H11 trading volumes were 6.4% higher than in 1H10. Trading in stock futures continued to grow, with the number of contracts traded surging 103.9% in 1H11.
Revenue from brokering the various underlying assets offered by this business totalled €12.5 million in 1H11 (-8.4%) and €5.7 million in 2Q11 (-21.7%).
FIXED INCOME
Revenue at this business unit rose year-on-year in both 2Q11 (+25.8% to €2.3 million), and 1H11 (+17.5% to €4.6 million). Second-quarter EBITDA jumped 35% year-on-year to €1.6 million, while growth in first-half EBITDA rose 21.2% to €3.2 million.
Trading volumes in the Fixed Income business unit amounted to €1.25 trillion in 2Q11, year-on-year growth of 56.7%.
IT & CONSULTING
The IT & Consulting business unit generated €4 million of revenue in 2Q11, year-on-year growth of 10.9%. The aggregate contribution of the various services offered in the unit generated revenue of €7.7 million in the first half of 2011, up 9.9% on 1H10.
The post-trading and trade-routing service drove a 28.1% increase in the percentage of BME-handled orders traded through Visual Trader, while the number of orders handled jumped 85.9% compared to the first half of 2010. The number of VT-maX terminals installed in 1H11 increased by 10%.