BME posts a net profit of €91.6 million in the first half, up 9.3% year-on-year

• The best first six months since 2008
• First half-year revenue, at €181.3 million, increases by 7% year-on-year
• EBITDA grows 7.7% to €128.8 million
• In the second quarter the net profit was up  7.1% to €44.5 million
• The main financial performance indicators trended positively in the first six months: the efficiency ratio at end-June 2015 improves 0.5 points, at 29% while ROE for the period was 43.1%, a 1.6 point improvement
• Total flows channeled through the Spanish exchange in the first six months reached €30.17 billion, up 84.8%

BME reported net profit of €91.6 million in the first half of 2015, up 9.3% from the same period in 2014, marking the best half-yearly result since 2008. The net profit for the second quarter came in at €44.5 million, 7.1% higher year on year, mainly on the back of the positive performance of the Equity, Clearing and Derivatives units as well as the information services provided by BME Market Data.

Revenue for the first half, at €181.3 million, were 7% up from the same period in 2014 while in the second quarter it rose 5.7% year on year to €88.3 million.

In the second quarter operating costs, at €25.7 million, were 3.6% higher than in the same period the previous year. Operating costs in the first half of the year totaled €52.5 million, up 5.1% year on year. Stripping out the effect of extraordinary costs and those associated to the reform of the Spanish clearing and settlement system, operating costs through June decreased by 0.4%.

EBITDA for the first half amounted to €128.8 million, up 7.7% on the same period a year earlier, while the second quarter figure of €62.5 million was up 6.6% year-on-year.

The main management indicators performed favourably; at the end of the first half of the year, the cost-to-income ratio improved by 0.5 points to 29%, while return on equity (ROE) rose 1.6 points to 43.1%.

Cumulative profit per share in the first six months rose by 9.3%, to €1.10 in 2015, of which, €0.53 corresponds to the second quarter.

EQUITY

From January to June 2015, the Equity unit obtained €84 million in revenue, 6.2% higher than the same quarter last year. Of this figure, 86.6% corresponds to revenue for trading of equity products and €11.3 million to the registered listing activity at the unit.

The unit’s total revenue for the quarter stood at €40.4 million (+7.5%). After deducting the operating costs from the revenues, the unit’s resulting EBITDA stood at an accumulated €65.2 million through June and at €30.9 for the second quarter of the year.

These amounts bested the figures for the previous year by 9.4% and 11.2%, respectively.

Equity turnover increased by 25.3% through June, to €523.2 billion in the first half and 33.3 million trades were matched, down 1.5% on 2014.

Total flows channeled through the Spanish exchange in the second quarter, including flows corresponding to new shares and to the issuance of listed shares, stood at €14.7 billion, for a 32.2% increase, year on year. Total flows channeled through the exchange between January and June stood at €30.2 billion, for 84.8% year-on-year growth.

SETTLEMENT

Total revenue of the Settlement and Registration unit stood at €42.9 million between January and June, for a 4.4% year on year increase. EBITDA for the period was €33.5 million, besting that of 2014 by 1.3%. The unit’s revenue increased by 1.5% year on year in the second quarter of 2015, to €21.2 million. EBITDA for this period stood at €16.7 million, up 0.4% over the previous year.

A total of 27.1 million operations were settled through June, 2.3% higher than the first half of 2014. In the second quarter, 13.1 million operations were settled, up 1.4% on the same period last year.

CLEARING

The Clearing unit generated €4.6 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2015, a 9.7% yoy increase. This brought total revenue from clearing through June to €9.1 million for an increase of 1.3% over 2014.

EBITDA in the second quarter was 3.4% higher than the figure for the previous quarter, standing at €2.1 million, leaving EBITDA at €4 million through June, or 22.3% lower than the figure for the first half of 2014.

BME CLEARING has received authorisation from the Spanish National Securities Market Commission to broaden its clearing activities once the joint review process carried out by the College of Regulators set forth in the EMIR Regulation has concluded. The new clearing activities refer to the two new segments, OTC interest rate derivatives and purchase/sale transactions of equity financial instruments; the latter makes it possible to comply with one of the requirements of the reform of the securities clearing, settlement and registration system in Spain, the intervention of a central counterparty prior to the settlement and registration phases.

INFORMATION

The continual increase in primary source end-users, direct connections and of total customers connected has had a positive impact on the business unit’s results.

Revenue for the second quarter increased by 15.5% year on year to €9.3 million, bringing the unit’s total revenue for the first half of the year to €18.7 million, 20.6% higher than the same period in 2014. EBITDA in the second quarter stood at €8.5 million, 16.1% higher than in 2014, while the total for the first half of the year was €17.1 million, a 21.8% year on year increase.

The total number of subscribers to primary information source services of the markets managed by BME was 7.3% higher at the end of the six-month period than one year before.

DERIVATIVES

The total volume of contracts traded in the financial derivative product line in the second quarter of 2015 declined by 15.1% year on year, and was 14.9% below the accumulated total for the year.

Nevertheless this overall decline, contracts on index-linked futures continued the strong growth in trading seen in the first quarter. IBEX 35® futures trading increased by 21.6% on quarterly basis and by 15.4% for the year to date. Mini IBEX 35® futures trading also increased by 28.7% in the quarterly comparison and by 27.7% in the year to date comparison. IBEX® Impacto Dividendo futures trading rose by 91.1% in the year to date comparison.

The positive trend in index derivatives boosted revenue and helped offset the decline in contracts traded in other products. Revenue for the second quarter stood at €3.1 million, and at €6.3 million through June, for a year on year increase of 4.2% and 0.9%, respectively. EBITDA for the second quarter ended at 13% above the level for 2014, standing at €1.9 million, while the accumulated increase through June was 6.8%, or €3.8 million.

FIXED INCOME

Fixed-income trading was influenced by the environment of low interest rates and accumulated decreases in both corporate bonds and government debt, compared to 2014. Through June €329.5 billion in private Fixed income has been traded, with a 55% drop compared with the first six months and a 51.6% decline compared with the second quarter. Trading in Public Debt in the second quarter of 2015 totaled €21.3 billion, a 29.5% decline year on year. This figure was €49.4 billion in the first six months, down 15.2% compared with the same period the previous year.

The revenue of the Fixed Income Unit declined, year on year, by 4.3% in the second quarter and stood at €2.6 million, including trading (56.6%) and listing (43.4%). Higher admission revenue (+12%) partially offset the contraction in trading revenue (-13.9%).

In the first half of the year the unit’s trading revenue stood at €3 million, for a 27.2% decrease in year on year terms, while listing revenue stood at €2.1 million, for an 11% increase. The unit’s total revenue for the first six months was down by 15.1% compared with 2014. The unit’s EBITDA decreased by 9.7% year on year in the second quarter to €1.3 million, whereas in the first half of the year it fell by 27.1% to €2.6 million.

 IT & CONSULTING

In the second quarter of the year, the main areas of IT and Consulting activity continued to benefit from the improved overall trend in the sector and from growth in volumes to ensure continued growth in demand for products and services. The product lines that benefited the most from this environment are mainly in the area of technical infrastructure services, consultancy services performed, the outsourcing of services to REGIS-TR®, the management of orders through the VT network, as well as various connection solutions regarding proximity, collocation and London Hubs.

The overall services supplied from the IT and Consulting unit generated €4.5 million in revenue in the second quarter, 5.9% lower than the figure for the same quarter in 2014. Revenue from January to June stood at €9.1 million, a 7% increase year on year.

EBITDA declined 7.6% quarter-on-quarter, to €1.9 million. The unit’s EBITDA for the first six months of the year stood at €3.7 million, 20.2% higher than at the end of the first half of the previous year.