- Net profit rises 10.6% from the first quarter of 2007.
- Revenue in the first quarter reached €99.6 million, up 7.2% from a year earlier.
Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) posted a net profit of €55.4 million in the first quarter of 2008, which represents a 10.6% rise on the € 50.1 million reported in the same period in 2007. The figure represents an all-time high for BME quarterly profits. This growth is underpinned by a diversified business model that brings together different business lines, products, pricing structures and services. This diversity enables BME to respond efficiently to the problems arising from a slowing economy and difficult capital market conditions caused by a credit crunch.
Revenue totalled €99.6 million in the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, while operating costs increased by 7.8% to €23.8 million in the period.
BME posted solid earnings for the first quarter of 2008, with EBITDA rising 7% from a year earlier to €75.8 million.
BME’s key financial indicators for the period remain at levels that confirm it as a benchmark in terms of efficiency, return on equity and shareholder remuneration.
EQUITIES
The number of trades rose 15.7% in the period, from 8.8 million to 10.2 million, while the cash volume of shares traded in the first quarter of 2008 amounted to €380.2 billion, down 9% on the first three months of 2007.
Revenues from the equity business unit amounted to €45.7 million in the first quarter of 2008, down 2.9% on the previous year. After deducting operating costs, EBITDA totalled €37 million, a 5.4% decrease from 2007.
CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT
Nominal amounts for all three markets—equities, private fixed income and public debt--increased 10.8% year on year to 1.2 trillion euros.
In the first quarter of 2008, EBITDA at the Settlement unit rose 22.4% to €20.2 million, driven by a 20.8% rise in revenue, to € 23.9 million
LISTING
The capitalisation of the companies listed on the equity market stood at €1.2 trillion at 31 March 2008, an increase of 3% from a year earlier.
In the first quarter of 2008, a total of 3,325 companies were listed on the Alternative Equity Market (MAB), with a market capitalisation of €29 billion.
The total volume of new issues admitted to trading on the AIAF fixed income market in the first quarter of 2008 fell 30.7% from a year earlier to €121.7 billion.
INFORMATION
Overall, the number of end users who accessed BME’s market information in real time rose16.8% in the first quarter, from the same year-earlier quarter.
EBITDA at the Information business unit amounted to €7.5 million in the first quarter of 2008, up 33.6% from the first quarter of 2007.
DERIVATIVES
The volume of derivatives trading grew 60% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007.
Growth in equity derivatives was more pronounced than in index derivatives. Trading volumes for IBEX 35® futures were almost unchanged year on year while volumes grew 34.4% for Mini futures and 73.8% for index options.
During the first quarter 2008, operating revenues in the Derivatives business increased 9.6% year on year, to €7.4 million, while operating costs rose 1.8%, boosting EBITDA 14.3% in the period.
FIXED INCOME
In the first quarter of 2008 trading in the Fixed Income business unit advanced 17.6% to €378.8 billion, supported by the positive performance of almost all its components.
Due to this buoyant activity, operating revenues from this business unit totalled €1.6 million, a 7.3% increase year on year. With a 4.5% decline in costs to €780,000, EBITDA rose to €916,000, a relative increase of 20.1%.
IT & CONSULTING
At the service for global market access, the total number of orders handled by the automatic router rose by 74%, compared to the first quarter of 2007. The sharpest growth was on the Spanish market, with orders up 80% year on year.
BME is continuing to expand the scope of its contingency and business continuity services for the financial sector and targeting a wider range of potential client segments.
The different IT & Consulting services offered in the first quarter of 2008 boosted the unit’s revenues by 37.5% from a year earlier to € 4.1 million. In addition, the different projects carried out by this unit helped push up operating costs by 26.5% rise in to € 2.2 million in the same period. As a result, EBITDA in this unit increased by 52.4% year on year.
HIGHLIGHTS
The proposal submitted to the General Meeting calls for raising the final dividend to €1.016 per share, in addition an extraordinary dividend of €0.569 per share—a recommendation that reflects BME’s commitment to shareholder remuneration. The total ordinary dividend stands at €1.97 per share, representing an increase of 64.9% from the year before. Taking into account the extraordinary dividend proposal, total shareholder remuneration would reach €2.54 per share.
The CNMV approved the high-growth companies segment within MAB during this quarter. This segment will become fully operational during 2008.
Iberclear and six other major European Central Securities Depositories signed an agreement to create Link Up Markets, a joint venture aimed at meeting the commitment to improve the interoperability among CSDs and enhance the efficiency of cross-border securities transactions in Europe.
In the first quarter of 2008, trading volume in ETFs exceeded €3.03 billion, up 227.6% on the first three months of 2007. Six ETFs managed by Lyxor were admitted to listing in the first quarter of 2008, bringing to 27 the total number of ETFs listed on the Spanish market.
The outstanding balance at 31 March stood at €772.3 billion, 19.7% higher than the year before. Net fund raising by the private sector in the quarter totalled €13.85 billion.
In the first quarter, BME rolled out transaction reporting services. Through this service, BME files on members’ behalf the reports required under the implementing regulations of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). The service has been taken up by a majority of members and is now fully operational.
On 9 April, BME and the FTSE Group presented a new stock market index of Spanish companies called the FTSE4Good IBEX. Stocks are selected based on compliance with a range of corporate social responsibility criteria.
