Bursa Q2 earnings nearly RM60m, declares dividends of 35 sen

Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Tajuddin Atan said the higher earnings in the 9 months were due to the resilient performance of the Securities Market which was supported by continued growth in the Derivatives Market and Islamic Capital Market.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd's earnings rose 20.3% to RM59.54mil in the second quarter ended June 30 but it remained cautiously optimistic about the growth momentum for the remainder of 2017.

The stock exchange reported on Wednesday the earnings were up from RM49.47mil a year ago. Revenue rose nearly 10% to RM142.67mil from RM129.72mil.

Earnings per share were 11.10 sen compared with 9.2 sen. It rewarded shareholders with an interim dividend of 20 sen a share and special dividend of 15 sen per share. This was in contrast with a dividend of 17 sen a year ago.

The average daily trading value (ADV) for the on-market trades rose to RM2.6bil mainly due to higher domestic trade. The  average daily contracts (ADC) for the derivatives market fell 6.7% to 57,482 contracts due to lower FKLI trades. 

In the Islamic Capital Market, the ADV of the Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ (BSAS), the world’s first Shariah-compliant commodity Murabahah trading platform rose 22.1% to RM18.8bil from a year ago.

Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said going forward, “we remain cautiously optimistic about the growth momentum for the rest of the year”. 

“Our aim continues to be creating a vibrant and sustainable capital market ecosystem to provide more opportunities for fund-raising and trading activities for all our stakeholders.” 

In the first half, its earnings rose 16.8% to RM116.17mil from RM99.41mil in the previous corresponding period. Its revenue increased by 8.2% to RM285.35mil from RM263.65mil.

He said the higher earnings were underpinned by the higher operating revenue of RM269.4mil, up 8.5% from a year ago. 

This is Bursa Malaysia’s best half year operating revenue since its listing in 2005. The Exchange also declared an interim and a special dividend of 20 sen per share and 15 sen per share respectively. 

“Bursa Malaysia’s strong performance in the first half of 2017 came on the back of increased trading activities across all segments. 

“We are seeing renewed interest especially from foreign funds who, I am pleased to note, are continuing to return to Malaysia’s capital market since the start of the year,” said Tajuddin.

Stronger domestic trade contributed to a 30.8% increase in the ADV for the securities markets on-market trades to RM2.5bil. 

The first half of 2017 saw eight initial public offerings (IPOs) that raised a total of RM3.5bil compared to five listings which raised RM400mil a year ago.