Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) posted a net profit of €145.5 million in the first nine months of 2008, a solid performance given the difficult moment for financial markets. The figure represents a 3.4% decrease from the same period a year earlier and a 57.9% increase from the same nine-month period in 2006. It also exceeds by 11.5% the net profit for the entire year of 2006.
BME's net profit in the third quarter was €42.4 million, down 11% from €47.6 million in the same year-earlier period, which was one of the best in the history of BME. The figure represents a 40.4% increase from the same quarter in 2006.
Revenue in the first nine months of the year totalled €264.7 million, down 6.1% from the same period a year earlier. In the third quarter revenue was €82 million.
Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) to the end of September came in at €190.8 million, down 9.8% from the same year-earlier period.
The efficiency ratio, which values the expenses incurred at each revenue source, remains below the 30% level of international peers, at 27.9% at end-September 2008.
Earnings per share in the third quarter decreased from €1.80 at the end of September 2007 to €1.74 in September 2008. Worth noting is the Return on Equity (ROE), which came in at 38.7% in September 2008, compared to 42% in the same month a year earlier.
EQUITIES
Revenue from this business unit to the end of September 2008 totalled €115 million, down 11.2% from the same period a year earlier. EBITDA in the first nine months totalled €88.2 million, down 15.2% from the same period a year earlier.
Costs in this area increased by only 0.5% in the third quarter from the same period in 2007.
The number of cross trades, including securities, EFTs and warrants, increased by 5.9% year on year in the first nine months of 2008 to 27.7 million. A total of 9 million trades were registered in the third quarter, up 3.2% on the same period a year earlier.
Clearing and Settlement
As regards the Clearing and Settlement unit, revenue to the end of September totalled €62.5 million, down 8.7% from the same 2007 period. EBITDA for the same period totalled €51.2 million, down 11.6% from the same period a year earlier.
Revenue generated by this unit fell 8.7% in the third quarter from a year earlier to €19.4 million. EBITDA dropped 10.8% to €15.6 million in the same period.
Nominal amounts increased by 8.4% in the first nine months of the year to €1.3 trillion.
INFORMATION
In this area, revenue to September grew by 14.7% from a year earlier to €28.3 million. EBITDA for the same period grew by 21.2% from a year earlier to €23.3 million.
Revenues rose 6% in the third quarter from a year earlier to €9.3 million and EBITDA increased by 11.4% to €7.8 million in the same period.
Operating costs decreased by 8.2% in the first nine months of the year. As regards the third quarter, costs came down by 15.2% from the same period in 2007.
DERIVATIVES
Revenue from this unit to the end of September increased by 0.7% from a year earlier to €21.5 million. EBITDA for the same period increased by 1.1% to €13.7 million.
Operating costs in the unit decreased by 6.6% in the third quarter to €2.6 million from €2.8 million in the same period 2007.
Trading volumes in this unit in the first nine months increased by 78.6% from the same year-earlier period in terms of number of contracts traded.
Fixed Income
Revenue generated from the Fixed Income Market to the end of September increased by 6.2% from the same period a year earlier to €5 million. EBITDA for the first nine months increased by 20.8% from the same period in 2007 to €2.7 million.
Revenue in the third quarter came in at €1.6 million, up 4.2% from the same period a year earlier. EBITDA for the third quarter decreased by 10.9% from the same year-earlier period to €887,000.
Trading volumes for the first nine months in the unit was €1.6 trillion, up 69.3% from the same period a year earlier. In the third quarter, trading volumes increased by 94.5% from the same year-ago period to €622.98 bn.
Listing
Revenues in this business unit in the nine months to September came in at €20.8 million, down 6% from the same period a year earlier, while EBITDA for the period totalled €12.8 million, down 12.3% from the same year earlier period.
The outstanding balance rose 11.4% from September 2007 to €812.68 bn. Highest growth was registered in asset-securitised bonds and covered bonds.
It & Consulting
Revenue in this business unit in the nine months to the end of September increased by 10.5% to €11.1 million. EBITDA to the end of September totalled €4.8 million, up 9% from the same period in 2007.
Revenue in the third quarter was €3.4 million, up 3.2% from the same quarter in 2007. EBITDA in this area in the third quarter came in at €1.4 million, up 9.3% from the same year-ago period.
Third Quarter Highlights
The number of warrants listed for trading in the first nine months of the year increased by 50.5% from a year earlier to 7,229.
Trading in individual stocks in the third quarter extended the increase seen over the year. In equity futures, the quarterly volume of 11.9 million contracts is the second largest ever for this product, representing growth of 134.7% compared to the same period in 2007. Trading volume for the first ten months of the year totalled 35.3 million contracts, up 178.9% from the same period in 2007.
On 23 July a public offering of participative shares of Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo was admitted to listing. This is the first issue of this product in our market. The amount placed was €292 million and the issue was subscribed by more than 37,000 investors.
On 30 September BBVA Gestión's ETF the "Acción FTSE-4Good IBEX® index", based on an index of socially responsible Spanish companies, was admitted to listing.
The Technology and Consulting business unit continues to work on systems, training, consultancy projects and contingency and continuity services initiatives.
