WSE Financial Results For Q3 2016 - GPW Group’s Growing EBITDA In Q3 2016 - Driven By Strict Cost Regime

In Q3 2016, the GPW Group generated revenue of PLN 73.7 million, a net profit of PLN 40.4 million, and EBITDA of PLN 51.9 million. Q3 was the best quarter in 2016 in terms of trading in equities, which translated into the highest velocity ratio since Q1 2014: 37.8%. As a result, the revenue from the financial market was PLN 46.8 million in Q3 2016, representing an increase of 8.8% quarter on quarter.

“We are glad to see a clear increase in investor activity on the financial market. We support it with continued initiatives stimulating liquidity on the cash and derivatives market. We have not only extended the promotions on the equity market but also introduced new promotions addressed to clients who build the quality of the order book. We are steadily adding new products to our offer: we have introduced futures on five more stocks. We can already see the positive impact of our initiatives, and we expect the trends to continue in a longer term,” said Professor Małgorzata Zaleska, President of the Management Board of GPW.

The decrease in the total revenue was mainly due to a seasonally weaker quarter on the commodity market, mainly with respect to transactions in electricity and gas, which was only partly offset by a higher revenue from trade in property rights. The revenue from the commodity market was PLN 26.6 million in Q3 2016, accounting for 36.2% of the GPW Group’s revenue.

Operating expenses were record-low at PLN 28.3 million in Q3 2016, resulting in a cost/income ratio of 49.1% in the nine months of 2016. The decrease in expenses (by 25.7% QoQ and by 34.8% YoY) was mainly due to the consistent cost regime across the GPW Group, as demonstrated by lower operating expenses of all categories. The biggest savings were reported in the GPW Group’s salaries and external service charges. Unused provisions against employee benefits in the GPW Group at PLN 3.8 million were released on a one-off basis in Q3 2016. The cost of supervision fees due to PFSA also decreased: the total fee was recognised in Q1 2016 and later adjusted by –PLN 2.1 million in Q3 2016. Net of the one-offs, operating expenses stood at PLN 34.2 million; however, the expenses still decreased year on year (-21.2%), and the net cost/income ratio was 46.4%.

“We are determined to pursue a strict cost regime, taking into account market and macroeconomic conditions. We are monitoring the costs of all GPW Group companies and implementing effective changes wherever we can generate tangible benefits. Such solutions combined with initiatives stimulating investor activity ensure stable financial results which we want to share with our shareholders,” said Paweł Dziekoński, Vice President of the GPW Management Board.