AFP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Stock Exchange boosted its net income in the first quarter by 57.81 percent year on year to P144.08 million largely due to the revenues from higher trading volumes in the bullish stock market.
Operating revenues grew 8.83 percent to P222.96 million from the same level in 2011, as all components of income increased. Trading-related fees expanded by 31.39 percent to P62.28 million as trading volume surpassed the level in 2011.
Service fees generated by the Securities Clearing Corporation of the Philippines, a wholly owned subsidiary of the PSE, increased by 54.48 percent year on year. Listing-related income, on the other hand, was reduced mainly because of lower volume of listings in the first quarter this year compared with the same period in 2011.
But PSE president Hans Sicat said in an Asiamoney forum that the PSE was still on track with its goal of having P198 billion worth of capital-raising activities in the local bourse this year, which would double from last year’s record-high fund-raisings.
“The PSEi continues to be one of the top-performing markets in Asia and we have seen a healthy increase in trading activity arising from this. The extension of trading hours into the afternoon at the start of the year has helped our market to accommodate this renewed interest from investors. We hope that revenues from listings will catch up as more companies have started to go to the stock market to raise capital,” Sicat said.
Other income of P45.45 million stood 235.85 percent higher primarily due to mark-to-market gains on financial assets. These revenues came from the investment in equity funds managed by two external fund managers.
On the expenditure side, total expenses for the first three months were 1.21-percent higher at P94.36 million than those last year.