The Spanish equities, bond and derivatives exchanges group Bolsasy Mercados Espa?oles (BME) says its net profit in the fourth quarter of last year climbed 41.4% to € 38.38 million, up from € 27.14 million in the same period in 2005. This helped drive profits for the year up by more than a quarter, with earnings up appreciably in all areas bar fixed income trading.
Revenues rose 21.4% to 287.74 million euros in 2006 from 2005; EBITDA increased 30.7% in the same period to € 191.35 million; operating revenues in the fourth quarter totalled € 83.67 million; and the efficiency ratio—costs as a percentage of revenues—stood at 33.5% at year end, a significant improvement over the 38.2% figure a year earlier.
BME posted a net profit in 2006 of € 130.53 million, up 27.8% from the €102.12 million reported a year earlier. The results prolong the strong performance shown by the group since it was created in 2002.
Operating revenues rose 21.4% in 2006 to € 287.74 million. Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) totalled € 191.35 million in 2006, up 30.7% from 2005.
BME’s net profit in the fourth quarter climbed 41.4% to € 38.38 million, from € 27.14 million in the same year-earlier period.
Operating revenues rose 34.9% to € 83.67 million in the fourth quarter from the same year-earlier period. Operating costs in the period increased by only 7.7%.
Earnings per share in the fourth quarter grew from €0.32 to € 0.46, an increase of 41.4% from the same 2005 period. Return on Equity (ROE) stood at 28.9% in December 2006, compared to 19.6% a year earlier.
The efficiency ratio – costs as a percentage of revenues – eased back to 33.5% at December-end 2006, from 38.2% a year earlier.
EBITDA for equity trading activities grew by 46.2% in 2006 to € 96.66 million, from € 66.13 million in 2005.
Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2006 stood at € 38.75 million, up 51.4% from the same year-earlier period. Operating costs in the quarter decreased by 8%, while EBITDA grew 86.9% from the same year-earlier period, to € 29.92 million.
Trading in equities totalled € 353.75 billion in the fourth quarter, up 67.5% on the same 2005 period. The number of trades in the period grew by 60.9%.
Revenues for Clearing and Settlement activities amounted to € 61.76 million in 2006, up 12.12% from 2005. EBITDA for this area reached € 47.87, an increase of 15.8% for the year.
Fourth-quarter revenues rose 25.4% from the year earlier to € 18.40 million. EBITDA for this period came in at € 14.51 million, up 43.7% on 2005.
The number of settled transactions in the fourth quarter, including equities and private and public fixed income operations, increased by 41.9% from the same 2005 period to 10.2 million transactions.
Revenues for Listings totalled € 25.70 million (+ 6.5%) in 2006 and EBITDA for the period was € 15.96 million (+ 11.1%).
Revenues for the fourth quarter 2006 grew by 22.7% from a year earlier to € 7.4 million. EBITDA came in at € 4.9 million, up 42.2% on the same 2005 period.
In the Information business area, revenue grew by 35.6% in 2006 from a year earlier to 26.85 million euros, and EBITDA for the same period grew by 56.3% to € 19.50 million.
Revenues for the fourth quarter came in at € 7.9 million (+55.9%) and EBITDA for this period increased by 99.7% on the same 2005 period to € 5.9 million.
The derivatives business generated revenues of € 23.95 million in 2006, an increase of 16.3% from the year before. EBITDA rose 36.8% in the same period to € 12.86 million.
In 2006, the number of contracts traded reached 47.1 million, an increase of 17.5% over 2005.
Revenues for the fourth quarter 2006 totalled € 6.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 19.1% which, coupled with a 7% decrease in operating costs, boosted EBITDA for the quarter to € 3.8 million, 48.6% more than in 2005.
The year 2006 brought stability to the Fixed Income business. With revenue growth of 0.2%, and an increase in operating costs of 0.5%, EBITDA remained largely unchanged from the year before at € 3 million.
Despite the 0.2% decrease in operating costs, EBITDA decreased 8.4% in the fourth quarter, to € 710,000 from the same year earlier period, hurt by a 4.2% drop in revenues.
In 2006, the IT & Consulting business generated revenues of € 12.2 million (+33.1%) and EBITDA of € 4.5 million (+68.3%).
Revenues for the fourth quarter totalled € 3.1 million (+21.2%) and EBITDA reached € 1.2 million (+26.9%) in the same period.
At the end of 2006, turnover in equity trading exceeded the one-trillion-euro mark and hit a record high of € 1.154 trillion– an increase of 35.6% over 2005. The number of trades in the period grew by 34.2%. These figures bring the average annual growth rate for equity turnover to 21.95% for the period between 1999 and 2006.
BME posted record volumes in equity trading during the fourth quarter of 2006, with a 67.5% increase over the same 2005 period. The number of trades rose 60.9% in the same period.
Media group Vocento and airline Vueling launched initial public offers in the fourth quarter, bringing to ten the total number of new companies that floated shares on the market in 2006, either through IPOs or Public Offerings for Subscription. The value of new listings in 2006 was € 3.10 billion. The market capitalisation of companies listed on BME at 31 December 2006 totalled € 1.134 trillion (+32.6%)
The total volume of issues admitted to trading on AIAF in the fourth quarter reached € 136.02 billion (+18.2%). At December-end, the outstanding balance of issues listed on the Corporate Debt market totalled € 588.94 billion, a 33.1% increase over 2005.
In BME’s Information business, the number of final users of real time information rose 10.37% during the fourth quarter of 2006, from the same year-earlier period. This increase continued the growth trend seen in the number of users seeking information on BME during earlier part of the year. In all, 2006 was a year of record highs in the number of users and revenues generated in this area.
The volume of derivatives trading during 2006 reached 47.1 million contracts (+17.5%). Breaking down this figure, the accumulated trading volume in IBEX35 futures and shares climbed 17.9% to 29 million contracts, while options trading surged 17.2% to 17.9 million contracts. Open positions at year-end stood at 5.7 million contracts, an increase of 7.9%.