Bursa net profit down slightly in Q3 on weaker securities trading
PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia Bhd’s net profit fell 4.1% to RM37.03mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30 from RM38.62mil recorded in the previous corresponding quarter on weaker securities trading.
Revenue dipped 1% to RM106.21mil from RM107.31mil with earnings per share declined to 7.0 sen compared with 7.3 sen previously.
Chief executive officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan said: “In the prevailing market conditions, Bursa has attained a stable performance for the first nine months of the year with a marginal growth in PATAMI (profit after tax and minority interest), driven by growth in stable revenue, derivatives business and Islamic market, coupled with lower operating expenses.”
For the nine months ended Sept 30, its earnings showed a 0.8% increase to RM115.75mil from RM114.82mil previously. Revenue declined to RM322.68mil from RM324.47mil.
“The softer performance was in line with the weak securities trading regionally but cushioned by successful initial public offerings (IPOs) in our market,” Tajuddin said in a statement.
The results came after its counterpart, the Singapore Exchange, announced that a decline in trading volume dragged down its net profit for the first quarter ended Sept 30. Net profit fell 15% to S$74mil on revenue of S$160mil.
Tajuddin said the stock exchange operator was committed to maintaining the level of performance by undertaking various initiatives that would accomplish its business objectives and strategies, notwithstanding the market conditions.
Meanwhile, trading revenue of the derivatives market rose to RM40.6mil from RM38.7mil, attributable to the improved performance of total traded volume that rose to 6.95 million contracts against 6.32 million contracts in the first nine months of 2011, driven by the increase in the trading volume of crude palm oil futures.
On the Islamic market front, Bursa Suq Al-Sila (BSAS) recorded a 79% rise in its average daily trading value to RM2.06bil for the period under review from RM1.15bil previously. The spike was due to the increasing use of BSAS as a commodity murabahah trading platform.