KEY POINTS:
NZX chief executive Mark Weldon is upbeat about the company's outlook for the next six months, despite acknowledging that the global market slump is likely to mean few new listings this year.
Weldon yesterday delivered the NZX results for the first quarter - to March 31.
There was a 25 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit to $2.17 million despite a market downturn and listings drought.
The result - up from $1.74 million in the first quarter of 2007 - was made on operating revenues which rose 10 per cent to $7.99 million, while operating expenditure rose 7 per cent to $4.31 million.
"Revenues are continuing to grow stably ... which means we can have a weak trading performance - as we did in Q1 - and still deliver a solid result."
Costs were also stabilising, leading to growth in margins, Weldon said.
Operating expenditure was down 8 per cent on the fourth quarter.
Although there had been no equity listings during the quarter due to global volatility, there had been significant debt listings. Given the market conditions "we don't expect to see a lot movement in listings", Weldon said.
"But we do expect some slight uplift in trading volumes as investors come back."
The NZX's information business was the strongest performer, up 20 per cent on the same period last year. It was expected to stay strong in the year ahead.
It generated $2.8 million in revenue.
Trading volumes were down, with conditions that had seen retail investors sitting on the sidelines, Weldon said.
Trading, clearing and settlement revenue was down 9 per cent on the comparable period in 2007 at $1.07 million, reflecting those lower trading volumes.
NZX subsidiaries continued to grow.
Ebitda for the Smartshares managed funds business was $185,000, 37 per cent less than the first quarter of 2007. But the 2007 ebitda included an accounting adjustment to revenue of $147,000. Normalised for this adjustment, it represented a 26 per cent increase.
Smartshares funds under management grew to $669 million, a 29 per cent increase on the same period in 2007.
NZX will pay a cash dividend of 21c a share, fully imputed. NZX shares closed up 16c at $8.22 yesterday.
