KCBT Announces Member Dividend - It Is The Eighth Year In A Row That The Exchange Has Paid A Dividend

The board of directors of the Kansas City Board of Trade at the December 20 board meeting declared a dividend for 2006 for all full members (Class “AA” Members) of record as of Nov. 29, 2005. A record-high dividend of $7,000 per share will be paid in January 2006. This represents a 4 percent return on seats that last traded at a record-high price of $175,000.

“2005 was a year of growth and success for the Kansas City Board of Trade,” said KCBT Chairman Greg O’Brien. “It was a record-breaking year in terms of volume, open interest and membership seat prices. It was also our first full year of electronic trading, with nearly 29,000 contracts traded in Value Line stock index futures and after-hours wheat futures.”

O’Brien noted that this is the eighth year in a row the exchange has paid a dividend, making it unique among U.S. exchanges. Membership seat prices rose dramatically in 2005, finishing the year at an all-time high of $175,000 with two separate sales at this level on December 5. Prior to 2005, the highest price paid for a seat was $129,000, on Nov. 8, 2004. The average seat price for the year was $152,000, up from $112,667 in 2004, and well above the previous record price.

New annual volume records were set for the exchange as a whole and for the hard red winter wheat futures contract in 2005. Total exchange volume for 2005 amounted to 3,953,536 contracts, topping the previous record of 3,326,836 contracts set in 2002 by 18.8 percent. This was the eighth time in 12 years that a new annual exchange volume record was set.

The KCBT set a new annual trading volume record in the hard red winter wheat futures contract for the tenth time in 12 years. Trading volume for 2005 was 3,682,919 contracts, breaking the previous annual record of 2,833,370 contracts set last year by 30 percent.

Open interest also surged in the hard red winter wheat futures contract in 2005. Successive new records were set throughout the year, culminating in the new record of 134,039 contracts on November 8. The new record represents 670.2 million bushels of wheat. Prior to 2005, the record was 91,261 contracts, set on June 21, 2001.

The KCBT is a for-profit corporation organized under the laws of Delaware. The exchange, chartered in 1876, is the world’s largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.

Value Line® is a registered mark of Value Line® Inc., a New York corporation that provides financial services and publications. Since 1982, the Kansas City Board of Trade has been licensed to use the Value Line® mark in connection with its efforts to establish futures markets tied to the Value Line® index. The Kansas City Board of Trade and Value Line, Inc. are not affiliated corporate entities.