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- Net profit: PLN 26.0 million, an increase of 53% quarter on quarter, stable year on year.
- Revenue: PLN 69.0 million, an increase of 7% quarter on quarter and 5% year on year.
- EBITDA: PLN 38.8 million, an increase of 23% year on year and 4% quarter on quarter.
- Subscription for Aquis Exchange shares: internationalisation of WSE’s strategy
- WIG30: a new blue-chip index to replace WIG20
- New products and services: co-location, bonds and WIBOR derivatives, OTC commodity trade platform
- Supporting liquidity: new multiplier of futures contracts, High Volume Provider programme.
Warsaw Stock Exchange Group reported a net profit of PLN 26.0 million in Q3 2013, an increase of 53% quarter on quarter. The improved profit was driven both by business expansion of WSE Group, reflected in revenue which increased by 7% quarter on quarter, and by cost discipline, as operating expenses decreased by 9% to PLN 40.2 million. The increase in revenue was owed to a major improvement in the commodity market segment, where the trading revenue and the clearing revenue increased by several dozen percent both compared to the seasonally weaker Q2 2013 and compared to Q3 2012. The aggregate revenue from the commodity market stood at PLN 18.7 million, an increase of 52% quarter on quarter and 27% year on year. The revenue from the financial market was stable at PLN 49.5 million. The operating profit of WSE Group was PLN 28.5 million (+38% quarter on quarter and -9% year on year) while EBITDA was PLN 38.8 million (+23% QoQ and +4% YoY).
The consolidated revenue increased by 5%, the operating expenses increased by 17%, and the net profit remained stable year on year. “The year-on-year increase in revenue proves WSE’s strong ability to grow its business and to build value of the entire Group, even in the face of significant reductions of transaction fees on the equities and derivatives markets introduced in early 2013. Expenses increased mainly due to depreciation and amortisation charges, demonstrating that WSE has implemented its strategic investment in the new trading system UTP, which is of key importance to sustained competitiveness and safety of the entire Polish capital market,” said Mirosław Szczepański, Member of the Management Board of WSE.
The trading system UTP, which went live on 15 April 2013, has placed WSE among the world’s technologically most advanced exchanges and opens up new opportunities for WSE to develop new products and services and to attract new categories of investors to the exchange. Since 2 September, WSE offers co-location services as well as High Performance Access to UTP (the option of installing hardware and software in close proximity to WSE’s trading system), supporting among others algorithmic trading, which is very popular on the global markets. WSE’s offer in this area will be strengthened by the promotional programme High Volume Provider (HVP), opening in early November 2013, which should attract new investors to the local market. Under the programme, market participants who invest only on own account and reach a threshold of turnover on the equities and derivatives market will be charged reduced fees.
“In Q3 2013, we were also running other projects focused on improvement of liquidity on the equities and derivatives markets, making them more attractive. These projects include the expansion of the blue-chip index to cover 30 top companies; the change of the multiplier of WIG20 (eventually WIG30) futures contracts from PLN 10 to PLN 20; and the development of Treasury bond futures and WIBOR futures, which were introduced this October. We also added a new business segment to the commodity market business of the Group by launching InfoEngineOTC, an OTC commodity trade platform, as of 15 October 2013,” said Mirosław Szczepański.
The implementation of new projects in the WSE Group is geared towards reinforcement and continuation of the expansion of the existing business segments of the financial market and the commodity market as well as continued diversification of revenue sources (the commodity market generated 27% and the financial market generated 72% of the consolidated revenue of the Group in Q1-3 2013). The latter goal will be supported in a longer term by WSE’s recent acquisition of an equity stake in Aquis Exchange. The UK-registered company will soon go operational as a multilateral trading facility (MTF) competing for trade with other exchanges and markets operating as MTFs in Western Europe. As a target, WSE will hold a 30% equity stake in Aquis Exchange. The investment is one of many implemented and planned initiatives of the WSE Group designed to amplify its international presence.
