OREANDA-NEWS. Singapore Exchange (SGX) today reported net profit of \$86.6 million (\$75.0 million) in the second quarter of financial year 2015 (FY2015).  Revenue grew 19% to \$195.1 million (\$164.6 million). Excluding revenue of the newly-acquired Energy Market Company Limited (EMC) of \$6.0 million, revenue grew 15%.

“We saw a record quarter for our Derivatives business while Securities trading grew slightly. Derivatives revenue (including EMC revenue) was a record \$76.4 million following a 52% increase in volumes to 40.0 million contracts. Our FTSE China A50 futures and iron ore products experienced strong growth. Volume of the A50 futures increased 183% to a record 17.4 million contracts for the quarter while Iron Ore volumes grew more than five times to 1.2 million contracts.

“Total securities revenue declined slightly as the 3% increase in total traded value was offset by a 4% drop in average clearing fee. We are making progress to enhance the Securities market; the standard board lot size was reduced to 100 from 1000 on 19 January. Since the introduction of market-makers and liquidity providers in June 2014, investors have been able to trade larger size orders at the same or better prices in stocks quoted by these participants.

“The outlook for the global economy remains uncertain with continued volatility. Against this backdrop, we expect the demand for Asian trading and clearing services to grow. We therefore remain committed to our long- term growth strategy. We have accelerated capital investments in our Derivatives and Fixed Income businesses. These are in addition to on-going investments including a new generation post trade system for our Securities business,” said Magnus Bocker, CEO of SGX.

Results Summary

Securities revenue declined 1% to \$51.7 million. Daily average traded value and total traded value increased 4% and 3% to \$1.04 billion (\$1.0 billion) and \$65.7 billion (\$64.1 billion) respectively. Average clearing fee was 3.0 basis points, down 4% from 3.1 basis points a year earlier under the previous pricing model. Turnover velocity was 36% (35%).

Derivatives revenue increased 46% from \$52.5 million, driven by the continued strong performances of our FTSE China A50 futures and Iron Ore products. Average fee per contract was \$1.30 (\$1.40).

Listing revenue increased 29% due to an increase in the number of listings and revised listings fees. A total of 14 new listings raised \$0.7 billion in the quarter, compared with 9 new listings raising \$1.4 billion a year earlier. Secondary equity funds raised increased 58% to \$1.9 billion (\$1.2 billion).

Our bond listing platform continued to attract strong interest from debt issuers this past quarter. There were 131 new bond listings raising \$47.5 billion, compared with 144 listings raising \$33.7 billion a year earlier.