Sad face Zuckerberg
The NZX is on track with its plan to consolidate the three equity platforms into one by the start of next year in what will be its first big revamp of its rules since 2003.
As it stands, NZX has its main board, and two junior boards — NXT and NZAX.
If all goes to plan, it will be one board by January 1 next year, but with a six-month bedding in period to allow the smaller companies to adjust to the new regime.
“A single market will work better for New Zealand because we are just not big enough to justify two equities markets or three, as is the case currently,” NZX general counsel Hamish Macdonald told Stock Takes.
Separately, NZX plans to streamline its listed debt market board by reducing compliance costs.
The second round of feedback from interested parties on the proposed changes received 30 submissions, building on the 70 submissions offered in the first phase.
Macdonald said the exchange was pleased with the level of engagement and the cross section of submitters in the review process.
“There was strong endorsement of the direction of travel of the review,” he told Stock Takes.
“At the moment the debt market has been performing really well, so we are looking to build on that momentum,” he said.
NZX has recently signed memorandums of understanding with exchanges in Singapore and Hong Kong.
“This is part of our strategy to build scale in our market to ensure that we are well connected to other exchanges,” he said.
“Where we can, we will be removing necessary compliance costs for rules and introducing more tools and guidance to the listed companies with their operations within the listed environment,” he said.
The NZX has proposed a more streamlined marketplace aimed at attracting more listings and greater investor involvement.
Macdonald said the exchange planned to “de-clutter” its rules, which at present comprise 460 pages across the three equity markets, down to around 95 pages for the single market. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is set to lose his spot as the third richest person in the world, after the Silicon Valley technology giant posted a rare miss on revenue and user numbers, as it suffered the impact of a string of scandals and the introduction of tough European data privacy rules.
Facebook shares fell as much as 25 per cent in after-hours trade. If the drop is reflected in regular trading today, it would be the biggest one-day fall ever recorded by Facebook, and could wipe more than US$17 billion ($24.8b) from Zuckerberg’s fortunes.
He had recently just overtaken Warren Buffett as the third richest person, but would slip back to sixth place, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Facebook’s revenue came in at US$13.23b for the three months to the end of June, up from US$9.2b a year earlier, but down on analyst forecasts for US$13.36b. Its operating margins slipped to 44 per cent from 47 per cent, although earnings per share was US$1.74, against forecasts of US$1.72.
Investors were further disappointed during the company’s earnings call, when Facebook provided guidance for the coming quarters, and said revenue growth was likely to continue to slow and expense growth would outstrip revenue growth in 2019.
“Our total revenue growth rates will continue to decelerate in the second half of 2018, and we expect our revenue growth rates to decline by high single-digit percentages from prior quarters sequentially in both Q3 and Q4,” said CFO David Wehner.
He added that expenses are likely to increase 50 per cent to 60 per cent compared with last year as the company spends more on hiring
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