Bursa Malaysia Posts 4% Increase In Net Profit For Year Ended 31 December 2012

Bursa Malaysia Berhad (Bursa Malaysia) registered a net profit of RM151.5 million for the financial year ended 31 December 2012, an increase of 4% from RM146.2 million reported in 2011. The steady performance was due to improvements in stable revenue and derivatives trading revenue.

Bursa Malaysia Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Tajuddin Atan said, “Bursa Malaysia reported a steady performance in 2012 on the back of 3 sizeable initial public offerings (IPOs), and growth from derivatives segment and structured warrants listings.”

Average daily trading value for the securities market decreased to RM1.67 billion for the period under review compared to RM1.79 billion in the same corresponding period. As a result, trading revenue decreased to RM178.3 million from RM193.0 million in the previous year. The lower revenue was due to the continuous global market uncertainty but mitigated by the support from domestic institutions.

For 2012, market capitalisation expanded to RM1.47 trillion from the previous year’s RM1.28 trillion, and this is attributable to several sizeable IPOs on Bursa Malaysia, namely by Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (Felda), IHH Healthcare Berhad (IHH) and Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (Astro).

For the period under review, the derivatives market benefited from the continuing volatility of crude palm oil prices and increased global visibility of derivatives products which resulted in an increase of 9% in trading revenue which stood at RM56.0 million in 2012 compared to RM51.2 million in the previous year, on the back of higher average daily contracts from 34,474 in 2011 to 39,387 in 2012.

Stable revenue increased by 13% to RM127.4 million in 2012, from RM112.8 million in the 2011 due to listings of three sizeable IPOs, higher number of structured warrant listings and increase in direct market access subscriptions. In 2012, Bursa Malaysia recorded 17 IPOs which raised RM22.9 billion compared to RM6.7 billion in 2011. Additionally, stable revenue was boosted by a higher number of structured warrant listings to 551 in 2012 from 363 in 2011.

Bursa Malaysia reaffirmed its prominence as the world’s leading Sukuk listing destination with an increase of 18% in issuance from USD$28.5 billion in 2011 to USD$33.7 billion in 2012. In the same period last year, Bursa Suq Al-Sila (BSAS) recorded an impressive 89% increase in its average daily trading value to RM2.3 billion for the period under review from RM1.2 billion in the corresponding period following growing acceptance amongst global market participants.

Bursa Malaysia proposed a final dividend of 13.5 sen per share, bringing full year 2012 total dividend to be paid to 27 sen per share. This represents a total payout ratio of 95% for 2012. The proposed final dividend will be presented to shareholders at the Company’s 36th Annual General Meeting in March this year for their approval.

On the expectations for 2013, Dato’ Tajuddin said, “The Malaysian economy has weathered the global slowdown relatively well in 2012. Early indicators for 2013 show positive development in line with the country’s economic prospects and business fundamentals. However, the continuing global uncertainty will affect our overall performance. Nonetheless, we remain focused to grow and to improve the vibrancy and resilience of our capital market.”

The financial results for the full year 2012 are available on Bursa Malaysia’s website.

* Net profit is defined as profit after tax and minority interest.