Bursa Malaysia Registers Profit After Tax And Minority Interest Of Rm96.5 Million For The First Half Of 2015

 Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or “the Exchange”) registered a 4.9 per cent increase in profit after tax and minority interest (“PATAMI”) of RM96.5 million, for the first half ending 30 June 2015 (“1H2015”) compared to the same period last year due to higher operating revenue. Bursa Malaysia continued to record a strong return on equity (“ROE”) performance of 25 per cent, up 2 percentage points compared to the previous corresponding period despite global and domestic market challenges.

Dato’ Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia said, “Our PATAMI for 1H2015 was positive due to the continued growth seen in our Derivatives and Islamic Markets, while costs remained steady. Our Crude Palm Oil futures contract (“FCPO”) continued to grow and has benefited from the increased volatility in commodity prices. On the Islamic Market, Bursa Suq Al-Sila (“BSAS") has seen very high growth figures this year due to the conversion of bank deposits to Murabaha, and the introduction of Tenor Based Pricing early this year.”

For the period under review, the average daily trading value (“ADV”) for the Securities Market’s on-market trades was down by 3.2 per cent at RM1.99 billion mainly due to lower retail participation.

Average daily contracts (“ADC”) for the Derivatives Market grew by 17.8 per cent to reach 55,314 contracts, driven mainly by growth in the volume of crude palm oil futures. For the Islamic Market, BSAS recorded strong growth of 149.4 per cent in ADV to reach RM12.8 billion. Operating expenses remained stable at RM117.8 million and the cost-to-income ratio improved by 2 percentage points on the back of this and the higher revenue posted.

Bursa Malaysia’s second quarter of 2015 (“2Q2015”) PATAMI was up by 5.6 per cent to RM49.5 million compared to the corresponding quarter ending 30 June 2014 (“2Q2014”) while operating revenue was also up 4.5 per cent to RM120.7 million. The ADV for Securities Market’s on-market trades was down by 6.8 per cent to RM1.91 billion in 2Q2015, while ADC traded for the Derivatives Market increased by 14.8 per cent to reach 50,612 contracts in 2Q2015. For the Islamic Market, the ADV of BSAS stood at RM13.6 billion, up by 164.8 per cent from 2Q2014.

Dato’ Tajuddin said, “Moving forward, Bursa Malaysia will be intensifying our efforts in promoting sustainable practices in our marketplace. Since the launch of our Environment, Social and Governance (“ESG”) index in December last year, we have committed to the United Nation’s global Sustainable Stock Exchanges (“SSE”) initiative, whereby voluntary signatories commit to promote sustainability performance and transparency in Capital Markets. This is the year we step up and deepen our market engagements on sustainability to determine the best way forward towards integrating ESG matters into all areas of business.”

Later this month Bursa Malaysia will be hosting the first of their ASEAN CAP10 Sustainability Series of events in conjunction with the gathering of the World Federation of Exchanges working committee meeting on the 22 July 2015. This will then be followed by the inaugural Sustainability Forum on the 8 October 2015. Domestically, the Exchange remains positive on the Malaysian economy, which is expected to grow at 4.5 to 5.5 per cent^[1] this year, and cautious of the events that are affecting Asian markets, particularly those unfolding in China.

The financial results for 1H2015 are available on Bursa Malaysia’s website (http://www.bursamalaysia.com/corporate/media-centre)