BURSA ... Jul11

KUALA LUMPUR: BURSA MALAYSIA BHD []’s earnings rose 30% to RM35.71 million from RM27.49 million a year ago.

It said on Tuesday, July 19 revenue increased by 20% to RM101.05 million from RM84.26 million. Earnings per share were 6.7 sen. It declared an interim dividend of 13 sen a share.

Securities trading revenue increased by 25 percent to RM46.1 million in 2Q11 compared to 2Q10. Daily average trading value for on market trades (OMT) and direct business trades (DBT) was higher at RM1.64 billion (2Q10: RM1.29 billion).

The stock exchange operator said stable revenue increased by 9 percent to RM29.1 million in 2Q11 compared to 2Q10. This was mainly due to higher information services revenue from the increase in subscribers for equities and derivatives fees.

For the first half, its earnings increased by 37.3% to RM76.20 million from RM55.49 million while revenue climbed 25.9% to RM217.16 million from RM172.37 million.

Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan said: “We recorded our highest half year profit in comparison to other half year profits over the last four years, since 2008, on the back of ongoing market volatility and economic challenges, especially given the uncertainties over eurozone debts”.

He said Malaysia’s capital market was benefiting from the shift in major funds towards emerging markets.

“We would attribute the stronger securities markets performance to the ongoing catalytic activities of the Economic Transformation Programme that has spurred activities in select sectors such as finance and CONSTRUCTION [],” he said.

Securities trading revenue for the first half of 2011, increased by 36% to RM103.8 million, compared to the corresponding period last year.

“We have seen an increase in average trading value by foreign investors by 37% within the same period this year,” he said.

Tajuddin said to drive shareholders’ value, profitability will remain a key performance indicator and it targeted net profit to grow by at least 20% per annum on average over the next three years.

“Liquidity is still a challenge but we are seeing changes in Government linked investment companies progressively releasing their holdings. We hope to ensure that our securities daily average trading value growth is at par with leading listed exchanges in the region; and achieve 50,000 contracts in our derivatives market by 2013,” he said.