KEY POINTS:
Stock exchange operator NZX is reporting a 49 per cent lift in third quarter net profit after tax (Npat) to $2.3 million.
NZX chief executive Mark Weldon yesterday said continued strong revenue growth had been the highlight in a volatile market environment.
The company said the lift in Npat for the three months to the end of September from $1.5 million in the third quarter of 2006, was achieved on operating revenue up 34 per cent to $8 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) rose 70 per cent to $3.9 million.
For the nine months of the year so far, earnings after tax lifted 76 per cent to $6.5 million, compared to the corresponding period a year ago.
Ebitda for the nine months was up 90 per cent to $11.1 million, on operating revenue up 40 per cent to $23.1 million. Year-to-date operating expenses were up 17 per cent to $12 million.
Weldon said that previously NZX had highlighted its pursuit of a growth and resilience strategy.
Evidence of that strategy working came from ongoing revenue and margin growth and financial performance increasingly independent of short-term market sentiment and conditions, he said.
For the NZX Markets business, operating revenue was up 37 per cent to $7.4 million in the third quarter from a year ago.
Total listings revenues grew 19 per cent to $2.3 million, with new listings on all NZX markets in the third quarter, the company said.
Third quarter revenue from the NZX Market data business increased 116 per cent to $2.8 million.
The data business subsidiaries now included NZX Agrifax, providing rural market data; FundSource, providing managed funds data; NZX company research service, offering packaged financial data solutions and NewsRoom, for news monitoring.
Trading, clearing and settlement revenue reached $1.3 million from $1.2 million a year earlier.
Subsidiary Smartshares had operating revenues up 22 per cent to $748,000 in the third quarter.
Operating ebitda was down 15 per cent to $109,000 driven by one-off costs associated with tax legislation changes in relation to the Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) tax regime and the setting up of a KiwiSaver compliant fund.
By the end of September, Smartshares had $591 million in funds under management, up 28 per cent from a year ago.
- NZPA
