The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has reported a strong revenue performance this year—the strongest growth seen in 8 years.
FY18 Financial Results, released on 16 August, ASX stated revenue was up $58.6 million to $822.7 million—an increase of 7.7 percent.
This increase was broad-based across the firm, and was achieved against a backdrop of a subdued equity trading market which saw limited growth in the demand for trading, clearing and settlement services.
Expenses saw a rise of $14.6 million, an 8 percent increase, which was partly driven by one-offs, ASX stated.
Equity post-trade services were up 0.4 percent, though ASX described 2017-18 as a “subdued year given slightly lower turnover in equity markets”.
Clearing revenue was down 2.6 percent in line with lower market activity, while settlement revenue was up 3.5 percent due to growth in settlement messages.
Listings revenue increased by 14.5 percent, driven by an increase of 46 percent in total capital raised to $81.7 billion.
Derivatives and over-the-counter (OTC) markets saw revenue up by 6.4 percent. This was due to a strong result, which was driven mainly by an increase in the number of offshore users on ASX’s platform, the firm said.
OTC clearing and ASX collateral continued to grow off higher bases, and Austraclear and equity options saw small gains.
In addition, ASX has been investing to strengthen its operating foundations, this includes the update of it’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) clearinghouse electronic sub-register system platform.
Statutory profit after tax was $445.1 million, up $11.0 million, or 2.5 percent (on FY17).
Underlying profit after tax was $465.3 million, up $31.2 million, or 7.2 percent. Operating revenue stood at $822.7 million, up $58.6 million, or 7.7 percent.
Dominic Stevens, CEO of ASX, said: “This is a very pleasing financial result reflecting ASX’s disciplined balance between investing in the operation and integrity of our core businesses—our Stronger Foundations initiative—and pursuing growth initiatives. Each of ASX’s four main businesses grew, with the overall performance driven by higher capital raisings and increased futures trading, particularly from offshore customers.”
“ASX is investing in infrastructure that will support the products and services that will be valuable to our customers in the future. This sees a number of exciting strategic growth opportunities emerging.”
He added: “We wanted a vision to reflect that we compete in our derivatives and listings businesses on a world stage. We also needed to reflect that we connect the world to the Australian financial markets, and we are now embarking on a world-leading upgrade of our post-trade systems using DLT.”
“How we manage operational resilience, provide customer service and act with integrity with our customers, regulators, shareholders and staff are critical to our success. Doing all this earns the respect of our stakeholders.”
