OREANDA-NEWS. Moscow Exchange (MOEX) today announces its financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards for the year ended 31 December 2013. Higher volumes on the FX, Bond and Money Markets as well as increased interest income resulted in strong growth in revenues and net income.

KEY OPERATING AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2013

Total trading volume across all markets increased 22% YoY to RUB 449.4 trn.

Revenues increased 14% YoY to RUB 24.61 bln.

EBITDA increased 20% YoY to RUB 16.40 bln; the EBITDA margin was 66.6% vs. 63.7% in 2012.

Net income increased 41% YoY to RUB 11.58 bln; earnings per share increased to RUB 5.23 from RUB 3.86.

KEY CORPORATE HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2013

Moscow Exchange successfully completed an IPO on its own trading platform raising RUB 15 bln.

Migration to T+2 settlement for equities was completed on 2 September, a major reform for the Russian financial market.

Six major global banks began offering Direct Market Access (DMA) to securities trading on Moscow Exchange.

Euroclear and Clearstream opened nominee accounts with the National Settlement Depository (NSD), a Moscow Exchange subsidiary, and began providing settlement services for OFZs transactions. This generated a significant increase in trading volumes in these instruments.

NSD has completed the mass consolidation of assets from registers to the central securities depository (CSD) for safekeeping.

The Central Counterparty (CCP) became fully operational. Repo with the CCP has emerged as a very popular instrument.

Moscow Exchange started central clearing of OTC derivatives and launched precious metals trading. New calendar spreads were introduced for futures on the RTS Index, OFZs, USD/RUB, Brent, gold, and the six most liquid stocks.

Strong additions were made to the management team with over 20 new key managers joining the Exchange.

The trading platforms for Equities & Bonds, Derivatives, FX and Money Markets were centralized at a single technology venue, the new state-of-the-art M1 data centre.

Mr. Alexander Afanasiev, Chief Executive Officer of the Moscow Exchange, commented:

“The past year was a remarkable one for Moscow Exchange and for the development of the Russian financial market. We completed our IPO in the beginning of 2013, showcasing the fact that high quality Russian issuers can raise significant capital in local shares on Moscow Exchange.

“We have delivered on our commitments made during the IPO last year to build a high-growth and cycle-resilient business. As promised, we implemented a number of major reforms that have had a significantly positive impact on the Russian market: the central securities depositary and central counterparty became fully functional, we moved to T+2 settlement on our equity market, and we opened the market for international central securities depositories. Trading on Moscow Exchange is now at least as convenient as on the world”s most established exchanges. These market infrastructure reforms yielded very positive results for Moscow Exchange: we grew volumes and delivered very strong financial results in 2013.

“Looking beyond the end of the reporting period at the start of 2014 we have seen high volatility on the Russian market, with stock indexes declining. At the same time, our trading volumes across most of our markets - equities, FX, money market, and derivatives - have posted significant growth during the first months of the new year.

“In 2014 we will continue to focus on attracting more flows by making our platform even more convenient to trade on, and by attracting new issuers. We also continue to promote high corporate governance standards, and aim to set the benchmark for all Russian companies in this area.”

Mr. Evgeny Fetisov, Chief Financial Officer of the Moscow Exchange, said:

“I am pleased to report that in 2013 we delivered exceptional financial results in addition to the successful implementation of infrastructure reforms and other important initiatives.

“Earnings per share grew 36% YoY to RUB 5.23 supported by strict cost controls and solid operating income growth. We saw double-digit growth in fees and commissions on the Money Market (+26% YoY), FX Market (+20% YoY), Derivatives Market (+25% YoY), as well as depositary and settlement services (+21% YoY). We also continued to manage expenses effectively: operating expenses grew by just 5% YoY, mainly driven by higher spending on market makers and professional services.

“Although new services and projects that Moscow Exchange launched in 2013 required some new senior hires, personnel expenses remained flat for the year.

“A strong performance in the fourth quarter also contributed to the outstanding results for 2013. In Q4, the EBITDA margin remained strong at 61.4%, thanks to healthy interest income growth of 25% YoY combined with fee and commission income rising 12% YoY, while operating expenses increased just 3.4% YoY. This drove net profit up by 60% YoY.”