Irish Stock Exchange 2016 Profits Up 21% To €8m

The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) plc has recorded another strong financial year with results published today showing a 21% rise in profit after tax to €8m (2015: €6.6m).

Revenues grew by 6% to €29.2m and total assets rose by 22% to €64.2m. With over 35,000 securities quoted on its markets from issuers located in 85 countries around the world, around 70% of ISE revenues come from international business lines.

ISE Chief Executive Deirdre Somers said: “2016 was a standout year for the ISE as we continued to build our domestic and international business lines. As a significant exporter of financial services into the EU and beyond, we are well-positioned to embrace the challenges and opportunities of Brexit.

“The outlook for 2017 is very positive. We are attracting significant debt listings making us by far the fastest growing bond market in the world. The ISE hosted the largest IPO in Europe with the flotation of AIB and statistics show that trading in AIB is very much concentrated in Dublin. Greencoat Renewables and Cairn Homes have also joined the market and there is a good pipeline of future potential IPOs coming through in 2017-2018.” 

Listing revenues grow by 5%

An analysis of revenues shows the ISE’s primary markets business, which includes international debt, fund and equity listings, recorded an increase in revenues of 5% to €20.1m (2015: €19.2m). According to statistics released by the World Federation of Exchanges for the end of 2016 the ISE was ranked as the #1 centre in the world for listing funds and was the second most popular centre for global bond listings across 68 exchanges.

Debt listing income increases to €15.6m on 7% growth in listings to 29k securities

Debt listing and related income increased to €15.6m in 2016 (2015: €14.9m). This rise in income reflects the growth in debt securities listings by 7% to over 29,000 securities at the end of 2016, their fourth year of successive growth. Multinationals, sovereigns and financial institutions from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia were among the 6,777 new debt listings attracted to the ISE’s two debt markets during the year. Notable listings were the first ever sovereign bond issuance by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the largest ever Canadian issuances from CPPIB Capital Inc, the capital markets financing subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Vodafone and Ferrari. Other listings included Entertainment One, Rabobank, Liberty Mutual, Clisa, Whirlpool and Glanbia.

ISE is #1 exchange for fund listing worldwide

The ISE attracted 1,041 new fund and exchange traded funds (ETF) listings in 2016. New listings came from leading international fund managers such as Pimco and Polaris.  In addition, activity in exchange traded funds (ETFs) continued to be strong with new launches from issuers such as Vanguard, Wisdomtree, First Trust, UBS and Deutsche Bank.

Traded markets revenues rise by 8% on 5^th consecutive year of growth in trade numbers

Traded markets and related revenues rose by 8% to €9.1m (2015: €8.3m). This revenue stream represents income from equity and Government bond transaction charges, market data sales as well as revenue streams such as Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) issuance. The financial results reflect the 17.4% increase in the number of equity trades to a record 6.6m (2015: 5.6m), the first time trading has reached over 6m trades and the fifth consecutive year of growth in trade numbers. They also reflect the ISE’s position as the #1 venue for trading and liquidity in Irish shares.

Operating costs which mainly consisted of staff and infrastructure costs were reduced during the year to €20m (2015: €20.2m).

Overall total assets at the end of 2016 stood at €64.2m (2015: €52.8m), following the acquisition of the shareholding in Euroclear plc that was previously owned by the ISE’s former trading entity (Irish Stock Exchange Limited, now ISE OldCo Limited).

Equity and Irish Government bond highlights

• Venn Life Sciences joined the Enterprise Securities Market (ESM) in January taking advantage of the ESM’s dual-listing facility with AIM to attract Eurozone investors.
• Draper Esprit plc raised €102m from its initial public offering (IPO) in June.
• Dalata Hotel Group plc transferred its listing from the ESM to a primary listing on the Main Securities Market (MSM) in June.
• 11 companies trading on ISE raised €513m in equity funds from international investors during 2016.
• Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) listed €10.35bn in Irish Government securities (2015: €14.5bn) including the Irish State’s first ever 100-year bond in a €100m fundraising which offered global investors a 2.35% yield.

Corporate highlights from 2016

• Dan Gallagher, former Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), joined the ISE Board as a Non-Executive Director in February 2016.
• Staff numbers rose by 8% to 121 people to facilitate additional volumes and new services.
• The ISE obtained planning permission for its new corporate HQ in Foster Place. Building work commenced in 2017.
• The ISE continues to be recognised as one of the best places to work in Europe. It achieved the #1 Medium Workplace in Ireland and was placed 14th in Europe at the Great Place to Work Awards 2016 making it the top ranking European financial services company.

Service highlights from 2016

• The inaugural #IPOready programme concluded with a range of ambitious companies graduating from the programme - Cup Print, Epicom Food, Impedans, Integrity 360, Netwatch Systems, Mcor Technologies, Sign+Digital Materials, Storm Technology and Version 1.
• The ISE expanded its offering on ISEFundHub, to all Irish-domiciled investment funds in addition to ISE-listed funds. ISEFundHub is a data portal for funds which provides access to key fund information such as net asset values (NAVs), fund documents, analytics and peer comparisons.
• The Global Exchange Market (GEM) extended its services to include the listing of investment funds in April 2016 providing investment managers with a choice of two markets when listing funds on the ISE – the MSM and GEM. 
• The ISE renewed its strategic technology partnership with Deutsche Börse and extended its use of its trading infrastructure and related services in January 2016. The new contract runs for six years until the end of 2021.

ISE Financial Results 2016 Infographic

Notes to Editors

The figures quoted above are for The Irish Stock Exchange plc and subsidiaries. ISE OldCo Limited (previously known as The Irish Stock Exchange Limited) has been excluded.