On the eve of the quasi-global day of indolence May 1st, Europeans in particular were largely absent and hence a quiet day, although Warsaw SE produced healthy numbers which only further emphasise why a tie up with Vienna would be a retrograde step for the poster child of New European capital markets…
Congratulations to Antonio Zoido on his re-election at BME, presumably holders will be happy with the dividend bonus although I always fear that such payments simply reflect a marketplace which is not capitalising on the opportunities which abound currently in the exchange industry.
Elsewhere everybody continues to have a hissy fit about IT issues although we’ll probably ignore that issue if no new angles emerge as the week goes on…
Anyway, here are today’s stories:
Public Markets
Results Of Warsaw Stock Exchange Group In Q1 2013
WSE Group in Q1 2013:
Revenues at PLN 79.4 million, an increase of 24.1% YoY and by 7.1% QoQ.
Net profit at PLN 42.1 million, an increase of 25.5% YoY and by 109.5% QoQ.
Operating profit at PLN 43.1 million, an increase of 20.8% YoY and by 60.1% QoQ.
EBITDA margin at 64.7%, an increase of 21.5 pp QoQ.
ROE at 19.8% similar to Q4 2012 (19.7%).
EPS at PLN 1.00 (PLN 0.79 in Q1 2012).
Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting: BME To Distribute €81 Million To Its Shareholders
Antonio Zoido, re-elected Chairman of BME
The General Meeting of BME agrees to distribute a final dividend, refund contributions to its shareholders and distribute an extraordinary dividend
The efficiency and ROE ratios compared favourably with the competition and were above (over 13 and 18 points respectively) the sector average in 2012
BME posted a net profit of €33 million in the first quarter 2013
In the first quarter, BME ranks 2nd in Europe and 5th in the world by investment flows channelled to companies, at over $10 billion
Re-election of Joan Hortalá i Arau, Ramiro Mato García-Ansorena, Tomás Muniesa Arantegui as Directors. Appointment of Pablo Forero Calderón as new Director
ASX Limited Earnings Update For The Nine Months To 31 March 2013
Relative to the prior comparable period (pcp – nine months to 31 March 2012) the unaudited results were as follows:
Statutory profit after tax $260.7 million, up 1.7%
Underlying profit after tax $260.7 million, down 0.3%
Operating revenue $457.1 million, up 0.6%
Interest and dividend revenue $42.5 million, up 3.9%
Cash operating expenses $107.5 million, up 2.6%
Depreciation and amortisation $22.9 million, up 16.4%
Derivatives Help Mask Equities Pain at NYSE Euronext
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Jeff Sprecher, ICE chief executive, has obviously done his homework.
When he made his bid for NYSE Euronext in December, he said the Liffe franchise, the exchange’s derivatives business, was the driving factor. The cash equities markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon, not so much.
So sure was Mr. Sprecher that the exchange’s futures lay in futures that he said he was willing to spin equities markets out. In part that’s to satisfy regulators that the exchange won’t cause competition concerns, but today’s results couldn’t have hurt. Ice’s bid for NYSE Euronext is currently valued at $9.8 billion.
NYSE Euronext Launches The SME Marketplace
Aware of the challenges facing businesses in search of funding, NYSE Euronext (NYX) is beefing up its strategy and resources for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) by launching a subsidiary dedicated to these businesses on 23 May 2013.
The new entity will cover the current B and C compartments of NYSE Euronext’s regulated market, as well as NYSE Alternext in each of the European countries where the group operates—a total of nearly 800 companies. Managed by a subsidiary set up in France for this purpose, it will have its own brand, operating budget and team.
Technology
London Metal Exchange cancels £25 million a year Xchanging contract
ComputerworldUK
Xchanging said in a statement yesterday that the contract termination was directly linked to the recent buy-out of LME by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx). The $2.2 billion (£1.42 bn) deal was completed in December.
Indexes
BSE and S&P Dow Jones Indices announced today the launch of the S&P BSE 500 Shariah index, the first new index resulting from the strategic partnership formed between the two companies in February of this year.
An Inside Look at Creating a Game-Changing Index
Fox Business
Find a need and fill it.
That’s the motto John Jacobs, Executive Vice President of Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ), has not only for his career, but also for his life.
Jacobs has spent decades working in the financial industry, and more than 30 of those years working at one of the nation’s largest stock exchanges.
But a career in the world of finance wasn’t necessarily his first choice.
Other stories
How a ‘Harlem shake’ shook Wall Street
MarketWatch
Shortly after 1 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday of last week, the Twitter account of the Associated Press sent out a message saying the White House had been bombed and President Obama was injured.
Two days later, when the Chicago Board Options Exchange CBOE +1.32% was set to open, it didn’t. A software glitch shut it down for three hours, wrecking trades and shaking confidence.
These are our modern markets. Touted for their cool efficiency, sophistication and transparency they are about as reliable as a politician.
Big Red Buttons’ Gear Up at Exchanges, Morgan Stanley
Traders Magazine
The major national exchanges are coming close to agreeing on a set of basic standards for how ‘kill switches’ should work across all their markets, according to Burke Cook, Managing Director at Nasdaq OMX Group.
The plan for the switches, also being referred to as ‘big red buttons,’’ could be wrapped up for submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission by June 1, Cook said at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association 2013 Operations Conference here.
Crowdfunding
Analysis: Is crowdfunding the way forward?
Third Sector
Crowdfunding has been much lauded for its potential to raise money for charities and social enterprises, particularly in these financially straitened times.
Last December, Crowding In, a report by the innovation charity Nesta, estimated that crowdfunding could raise £4.7bn a year for UK charities by 2016.
Crowdfunding – financing projects, charities, businesses and loans through small contributions from many sources – is nothing new. Indeed, Nesta pointed out in its report that public donations have been used to fund, among other things, the building of a base for the Statue of Liberty, mosques on the Indian subcontinent and countless statues worldwide.
bdaily
Jonathan Gold, director at Rivers Capital Partners, looks at crowd-funding, and how to determine if it is right for your business.
First, what is “crowd-funding”? Well, there are a number of variations but in its simplest form it’s a way of raising cash from the general public to fund a project or business. This is not a stock market listing of course, but rather a transaction through one of a number of web-based platforms that allows the public to invest.