.jpg)
WSE Group in Q1 2013:
- Revenues at PLN 79.4 million, an increase of 24.1% YoY and by 7.1% QoQ.
- Net profit at PLN 42.1 million, an increase of 25.5% YoY and by 109.5% QoQ.
- Operating profit at PLN 43.1 million, an increase of 20.8% YoY and by 60.1% QoQ.
- EBITDA margin at 64.7%, an increase of 21.5 pp QoQ.
- ROE at 19.8% similar to Q4 2012 (19.7%).
- EPS at PLN 1.00 (PLN 0.79 in Q1 2012).
The Warsaw Stock Exchange Group reported record-high revenues at PLN 79.4 million in Q1 2013 (an increase of 24.1% year on year). The increase was largely driven by strong activity of participants of the Polish Power Exchange, a subsidiary of the WSE, in particular on the market of property rights and in the Register of Certificates of Origin. The total volume of trading in electricity increased by over 150% year on year in Q1 2013. As a result, revenues from the commodity market stood at PLN 26.1 million, representing 33% of the revenues of the WSE Group in Q1 2013.
Revenues from the financial market, where new, reduced fees for transactions in equities and futures are in effect as of the beginning of the year, stood at PLN 52.5 million and increased by 5.1% compared to Q4 2012. Revenues from the financial market decreased by 7.8% compared to Q1 2012 while the value of session trading in equities increased by 1.5%. Most of the regulated equities markets in the European Union reported a decrease in the value of trading in the same period which in total amounted to approximately PLN 992 billion across the EU and was lower by 7.4% year on year.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange remains an attractive venue for existing and prospective issuers to place issues of shares and bonds. In Q1 2013, three offerings of shares of companies already listed on the WSE were among the biggest offerings in Europe. The WSE remains one of the top exchanges in Europe by the number and the value of IPOs, thus strengthening its position of a mature and effective capital market.
“The first quarter of this year has demonstrated the importance of the WSE’s initiatives aiming to diversify the sources of revenue while maintaining a strict cost discipline. By transforming the business model of the Group, we have significantly improved our resilience to the effects of global trends on the financial markets, giving us the comfort to fully focus on the implementation of new projects important to the entire market, which will be decisive to the business success of the WSE and the whole market in the next few years,” said Adam Maciejewski, President of the Management Board of the WSE.
The key project which has given direction to the activity of the WSE and the entire Polish capital market in Q1 2013 was the implementation of the trading system UTP (Universal Trading Platform) delivered by the NYSE Euronext group. The technology transition, which was completed successfully on 15 April 2013, supports much faster processing of trades, offers new trading opportunities, allows the WSE to largely expand the range of financial instruments in trading, and opens the WSE to new categories of investors including global players who use algorithmic trading techniques. This creates very good conditions for significant improvement of liquidity and effectiveness of the entire market.
“Today is the end of the period within which roll-back to trading in Warset was possible. It marks a definitive departure from the legacy system whose functionality was maintained for the first two weeks of UTP operation for safety reasons. This implies a full success of the UTP implementation owing to focused efforts of all market participants. UTP is not a goal itself but only a beginning of another important stage of development of our market. UTP is a tool whose functionalities and technological solutions offer multiple opportunities not only to investors. It is a tool which may prove decisive to the effectiveness and competitiveness of our market, impacting the WSE’s financial markets in the future,” explained Adam Maciejewski, President of the Management Board of the WSE.
The operating profit of the WSE Group stood at PLN 43.1 million in Q1 2013, an increase of 60.1% compared to Q4 2012. The high effectiveness of the WSE Group in pursuit of its business strategy was also corroborated by the EBITDA margin, which increased by 21.5 percentage points quarter on quarter and stood at 64.7%. At the same time, owing to the consistent cost discipline, the operating expenses of the Group decreased by 7.2% quarter on quarter. The operating expenses increased by 5.2% compared to Q1 2012 as a result of consolidation of PolPX for a full quarter. The separate costs of the WSE decreased by 5.9% year on year.
WSE Group results in Q1 2013
