SFE Announces 2003 Half Year Result

SFE Corporation today released its financial results for the half year ending 30 June 2003. The full financial results for this period are attached to this release. The highlights include:

Net profit after tax (NPAT) was $18.4 million, up from $12.9 million for the comparable prior half.
Revenue (excluding interest) of $50.3 million, up from $48.3 million for the comparable prior half, underpinned by a substantial growth (19%) in trading volumes.
Cash operating expenses (excluding interest) of $25.3 million, down from $29.2 million for the comparable prior half.
An interim dividend of 10.5 cents per share, fully franked representing 75% of the underlying NPAT attributable to SFE shareholders and an increase of 5.6 cents (or 114%) over the prior comparable interim dividend.

In releasing the results SFE's Managing Director and CEO, Robert Elstone, said "In our third year as a demutualised corporation and second year as a publicly (ASX) listed entity it is pleasing to continue to see SFE's performance indicators trending in the right direction. We continue to work diligently on lowering our cost base at the same time as developing and improving our relationships with shareholders, regulators and a very wide range of users of our exchange traded products and non exchange based services.

It is particularly pleasing to see users benefiting from growth in traded volumes at the same time as shareholders receiving a marked uplift in dividends. Based on management initiatives in place and a strong first half performance, we believe that we will achieve a satisfactory full year result for 2003."

For additional information please read the attached full report.