NZX, the securities market operator, posted a 21 per cent decline in first-half profit, mainly reflecting foreign exchange contract and accounting charges, while revenue rose.
Profit fell to $4.5 million, or 3.67 cents a share, in the six months ended June 30, from $5.68 million, or 4.62c a year earlier, the company said yesterday.
Sales rose 11 per cent to $26.6 million, lagging behind Forsyth Barr's estimate of $27.7 million.
The Wellington-based company trimmed its P&L forecast for the Clear grain exchange to a range of $1.5 million to $1.8 million, down from the $2.25 million estimate it gave investors at a briefing in March and said reported grain volumes in the second quarter had been weak.
NZX kept the carrying value of Clear unchanged after a KPMG review last month although in the notes to the accounts it says the exchange needed to lift its share of relevant markets to 7 per cent by 2015 from about 4 per cent now.
