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The European Energy Exchange (EEX) continued its positive growth in the first half of the year 2014. The sales revenue generated by the energy exchange rose to EUR 33.7 million (same period in 2013: EUR 28.9 million) by 16 percent. “A strong Power Derivatives Market and trading and clearing of the gas markets, in particular, contributed to this positive result”, explained Iris Weidinger, Chief Financial Officer of EEX, at the interim results press conference held in Leipzig. The lasting growth of EEX Group is reflected in the earnings before taxes (EBT), which rose to EUR 12.4 million by 8 percent (same period in 2013: EUR 11.5 million). Furthermore, the number of companies admitted to the exchange continued to increase. On 30 June 2014, EEX had a total of 291 trading participants compared with 223 participants registered at the end of June 2013. This number included the trading participants of Cleartrade Exchange (CLTX), which has been a part of EEX Group since the beginning of the year.
In the first half of 2014, the sales revenue on the Power Derivatives Market rose by 8 percent to EUR 15.5 million as against EUR 14.3 million in the same period in 2013. In a market which was in decline overall, EEX was even able to further increase its share in the overall German market. The market share rose from 17 percent in the first half of 2013 to 22 percent during the same period in 2014. EEX’s successful entry into the Italian power market made a decisive contribution to the growth on the Derivatives Market. During the first six months of the year, trading and clearing of Italian power futures contributed a volume of EUR 30.6 TWh and, consequently, EUR 0.8 million to the result.
The sales revenue from clearing of the EPEX SPOT Power Spot Markets rose to EUR 5.6 million as against EUR 3.7 million generated during the same period in 2013.
In the first half of 2014, the sales revenue from trading and clearing in natural gas rose to EUR 3.6 million from EUR 1.4 million in the same period in 2013. Subsequently, the share of the gas business in the total results increased to 11 percent from 5 percent in the previous year. “We are especially proud of the significant increases which we have achieved on the Natural Gas Derivatives Market. Our measures for the long-term development of this market – including the establishment of PEGAS – are now bearing fruit”, comments Iris Weidinger. PEGAS was launched by EEX and Powernext in mid-2013 and bundles the spot and derivatives gas products of both exchanges on one platform.
At EUR 0.8 million, the sales revenue generated in the emission allowances business field remained largely stable. On the Spot Market for Emission Allowances, the revenue declined slightly. This decline was caused by the political decision to reduce the volumes to be auctioned on the primary market in the context of “back-loading”. On the Secondary Spot Market, on the other hand, EEX was able to increase its volumes by 164 percent. Furthermore, at 49 percent, the volumes on the Secondary Derivatives Market were also significantly higher than in the previous year.
As a result of the exit of a clearing partner, the revenue generated through clearing cooperations of European Commodity Clearing (ECC) amounted to EUR 2.0 million compared to EUR 3.0 million in the first half of the year 2013. However, the revenue from the cooperations with the existing partner exchanges developed positively. In the field of the Info-products EEX was able to keep the revenue contribution stable at EUR 0.7 million compared with the same period in the previous year. In the first half of the year, the sales revenue generated by Cleartrade Exchange totalled EUR 0.5 million. The share of the other revenue rose by 3 percent to EUR 5.0 million (first half of 2013: EUR 4.9 million). The other sales revenue comprised the trading and clearing of coal, annual fees, technical connections and training courses.
Outlook
Following this good development during the first six months, EEX is very optimistic regarding the remainder of the year. Peter Reitz, CEO of EEX, explains: “We are continuing our growth strategy and are working to expand our position both on the existing markets and in new fields of business. The further development of PEGAS in cooperation with our French partner Powernext remains a strategic focus for us.”
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is the leading energy exchange in Europe. It develops, operates and connects secure, liquid and transparent markets for energy and related products on which power, natural gas, CO2 emission allowances, coal and guarantees of origin are traded. Through its majority shareholding in Cleartrade Exchange (CLTX), EEX additionally offers the markets for freight, iron ore, fuel oil and fertilisers. Clearing and settlement of all trading transactions are provided by the clearing house European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC). EEX is a member of Eurex Group.
For more information: www.eex.com
