SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - The Singapore Exchange on Friday posted a net profit of S$239.8 million for the half year ended Dec 31, 2020, up 12 per cent from $213.3 million a year ago.
This came mainly from revenue increases across all three of its businesses: equities; fixed income, currencies and commodities; and data, connectivity and indices, it said in a regulatory filing.
Earnings per share stood at 22.4 Singapore cents for H1, up from 19.9 cents a year ago.
An interim quarterly dividend of 8 Singapore cents per share has been declared, up from 7.5 cents the previous year. The dividend will be paid on Feb 8. This brings total dividends for the half year to 16 Singapore cents per share, versus 15 cents in the previous year.
Revenue for H1 rose 9 per cent to S$520.8 million from S$478.5 million in the year-ago period.
Revenue from the fixed income, currencies and commodities segment rose 17 per cent to S$99.2 million, and accounted for 19 per cent of total revenue. Equities, which make up 67 per cent of total revenue, edged up 3 per cent to S$350.8 million.
On the data, connectivity and indices front, revenue was up 35 per cent to S$70.7 million and accounted for 14 per cent of total revenue.
SGX chief executive Loh Boon Chye said in statement on Friday that the first-half performance was "solid", with growth from all three business segments amid an uncertain global environment.
"The heightened demand for China access and risk-management solutions, coupled with the early success of our expanded pan-Asia derivative product suite and higher trading activity in our stock market, led to stronger performance in our equities business. We have also grown our fixed income, currencies and commodities and data, connectivity and indices pillars, which now contribute a third of our revenues, bolstered by newly acquired BidFX and Scientific Beta."
He added that the bourse will continue to drive growth through strategic partnerships, client acquisitions and new product offerings such as ETFs covering equities and fixed income.
Sustainability capabilities and solutions as well as building up digital assets expertise are also among key priorities.
SGX separately announced on Friday that it has entered into a joint venture (JV) with Temasek to advance digital asset infrastructure in capital markets.
The JV is set to be Asia-Pacific's first exchange-led digital asset venture focused on capital markets workflows through smart contracts, ledger and tokenisation technologies.
Shares of SGX ended at S$10.09 on Friday, down S$0.15 or 1.5 per cent, before the financial results announcement.
