.jpg)
- Total costs down 2.5%
- EBITDA increases by 4.6%
- Revenue up 2.2% to €244.7 million
- BME financials continue their solid trend. The company confirms its leading position among its peers in terms of performance, with ROE of 34.1% and an efficiency ratio of 31.7%
Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) posted a net profit of €116.6 million to the end of September, up 9% year on year if we strip off extraordinary items. If we take them into account, growth to the end of September came in at 0.3%. The company’s net profit in the third quarter was €32.2 million, down 7.9% from the same period in 2009.
These results - which were generated almost totally from recurrent activities - show above all, the consistency of the company’s future-oriented strategy and the robustness of its business model against a backdrop of continued hostile economic conditions. They are also sustained by moderate growth rates in trading volume as well as cost-control efforts undertaken by the company, which were down 2.5% in the first nine months of the year.
EBITDA to the end of September grew by 4.6% year on year to €167.1million. After adjusting for extraordinary items EBITDA in the first nine months of the year was up 9.4%, at €163.60 bn.
Revenue as of September 30th totalled €244.7 million, up 2.2% year on year while at the end of September revenue linked to the provision of services was up 5.8%.
As for the return on equity (ROE) and efficiency ratios, which are BME’s main financial management indicators, they consolidate the solid trend that places the company as a reference for its sector and the market as a whole. The efficiency ratio was 31.7% and 33.4% for the year to September and for the quarter respectively. ROE for the quarter and for the first nine months stood at 34.1% and 28.1% respectively.
EQUITIES
Revenue from this business unit to the end of September was up 12.5% year on year. Underpinned by a pick-up in trading volume, especially in the second quarter, revenue came in at €104 million while EBITDA grew by 19.5% to €80 million.
In the third quarter revenue was down 9.2% to €29.9 million while EBITDA came in at €21.9 million (-10.9%). The trend seen in the third quarter was, like last year, affected by seasonal factors that moderated trading volume growth between August and September.
Equities trading volume to the end of September totalled €744.37 billion, up 16.4% year on year. The number of trades in the third quarter were up 3.5% year on year while to the end of September they increased by 25.7%.
CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT
As regards the Clearing and Settlement unit, EBITDA was €13.3 million in the third quarter and €45.4 million to the end of September. These figures represent increases of 3% and a 17% respectively thanks to the contributions of the different segments of settlement, registration and issuer services as well as solid cost-control. Revenue to the end of September totalled €55.4 million, up 11.5% year on year. Revenue generated by this unit in the third quarter fell 0.5% year on year to €16.6 million.
The number of trades settled during the first nine months of the year was up 17.6%, especially equity-related trades. The trading volume for the third quarter was €29.9 million, from 25.4 million in the same period in 2009.
The average daily cash value settled was €314.60 billion, down 5.1% year on year.
DERIVATIVES
Revenue from this unit to the end of September decreased by 5.9% from a year earlier to €5.9 million. EBITDA for the same period decreased by 2% from the same year-earlier period to €3.3 million. In contrast, the unit’s EBITDA for the first nine months kept up a positive trend, posting a 8.8% increase during this period to €11.5 million. Revenue for the first nine months of the year was in line with the previous year, declining by just 0.1%. Operating costs were down 10.4%.
As for the trading volume for derivatives products, their performance varied from product to product. The flagship product, IBEX 35 Futures, posted trading volume for the third quarter similar to that in 2009 and it posted growth of 17.9% in the first nine months. The Futuros Mini contract was up 16.5% to the end of September, despite a decline in trading volume during the quarter. Trading in IBEX 35 Options to the end of September was down 31.1%. The notional value of contracts on the IBEX 35 grew by 27.3% in the first nine months.
INFORMATION
The Information unit’s growth of its content offering continued as a result of the integration of new instruments into the ETF, Warrants, Certificates and Other Products and MAB markets. In the area of new content, the number of instruments integrated into the “SEND” platform has also grown and this content has likewise become part of BME’s primary information products.
In the third quarter EBITDA increased by 7.5% from a year earlier to €6.3 million and EBITDA for the first nine months came down by 6% to €18.6 million.
In this area, revenue in the third quarter was €7.8 million (-1.2%) and to the end of September it totalled €23.3 million (-6.6%).
FIXED INCOME
Revenue generated from the Fixed Income Market in the third quarter was €1.8 million, up 2.6% year on year. EBITDA for the third quarter increased by 2.9% from the same year-earlier period to €1.1 million. Revenue to the end of September increased by 17.5% from the same period a year earlier to €5.7 million. EBITDA for the first nine months was up 38.8% from the same period in 2009, at €3.7 million.
In the third quarter both the Private and the Public Fixed Income posted significant year-on-year increases in trading volume, with a 17.8% increase for Private Fixed Income and a 114.5% increase for Public Debt. The trading volume in Public Debt was €76.10 bn while that for Private Fixed Income was €893.82 bn. The biggest trading volume increases under the two headings corresponded to repos and simultaneous transactions.
LISTING
Revenue in this area in the third quarter came in at €5.5 million, down 2.9% year on year while in the first nine months of the year they totalled €16.5 million (-16.6%). EBITDA for the third quarter was €3.1 million, down 2.5% year on year while to the end of September it was down 24.1%, at €9.1 million. As for costs, they were down 3.4% during the third quarter, at €2.5 million, while to the end of the year they totalled €7.4 million, a 5% reduction.
IT & CONSULTING
The activity in the IT & Consulting unit was affected by the combined effect of the sensitive seasonal component of the third quarter as well as a lull in the sector brought about by the fall-out of the financial crisis, especially affecting consulting services and routing-trading solutions.
Revenue in this business unit in the nine months to the end of September decreased by 15.9% to €10.2 million compared to the same period in 2009. In the third quarter revenue was €3.1 million, down 29.7% year on year. EBITDA in this area in the third quarter came in at €530,000 while to the end of September it totalled €2.4 million.
