Bursa posts lower profit, revenue in first six months following drop in shares trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd’s net profit fell 39.4 per cent to RM 127.44 million in the first half ended June 30, 2022 (1H22), from RM210.46 million net profit a year ago.

In a statement today, Bursa said this was due to lower operating revenue by 26.4 per cent to RM309.4 million from RM420.2 million in 1H21, primarily caused by a decline in securities trading revenue.

Bursa’s total operating expenses saw a 1.9 per cent decrease to RM143.2 million in 1H22, compared to RM146.1 million in 1H21.

The board of directors declared an interim dividend of 15 sen per share for the financial year ending December 31, 2022 (FY22), amounting to RM121.4 million.

This represents a payout ratio of 95.3 per cent, higher than the payout ratio for 1H21, which was at 92.3 per cent.

For the second quarter, Bursa’s net profit fell 33.16 per cent to RM59.47 million from RM88.97 million a year ago.

Its revenue fell 22.5 per cent to RM151.89 million in Q2 2022 from RM196.10 million last year.

Chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said the weaker revenue stream in the first six months had been influenced by domestic and global developments including global inflationary pressures. This had led to a decline in profit for 1H22 compared to last year.

For 1H222, the securities market registered a trading revenue of RM147.2 million, down by 44.7 per cent from RM266.1 million in 2021.

This is due to lower average daily trading value for securities market’s on-market trades and direct business trades in 1H22 of RM2.46 billion against RM4.51 billion in 1H21.

As for the Islamic markets, higher trading activity in Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ resulted in an increase of trading revenue by 14.4 per cent to RM7.6 million in 1H22, from RM6.7 million previously.

Umar said the exchange would continue to actively engage with its participants and continue to develop new Shariah compliant products, such as the digital gold dinar, aimed at meeting the demand of investors.

“Taking into account the World Bank’s forecasted Malaysian economic growth of 5.5 per cent driven by higher consumption demand, we expect the number of new listings to remain strong in the second half of 2022. We will continue to enhance the attractiveness of the existing listed issuers through our public listed companies transformation programme,” he said.

NST