KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Bursa Malaysia Bhd continued to see a contraction in its bottom line in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019, chalking up a net profit of RM47.10 million compared with RM50.19 million a year earlier.
Revenue also declined to RM122.67 million from RM129.82 million previously, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
The latest results dragged down its net profit for the nine-month financial period by 26.5 per cent year-on-year to RM140.30 million, on the back of 16 per cent lower revenue of RM373.16 million.
In a media statement, Bursa Malaysia attributed the lower nine-month net profit to an 11.1 per cent drop in operating revenue to RM357.5 million from the previous corresponding period.
“Total operating expenses in the nine months saw a decline of 2.1 per cent to RM180.3 million from RM184.2 million previously, while marketing and business development expenses increased by 35.2 per cent to RM10.4 million as the securities and derivatives markets continued to focus on marketing and engagement initiatives to attract new participants,” it said.
Chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said notwithstanding the challenging operating environment, the initial public offering pipeline had remained solid; to date, the exchange had already welcomed 27 new listings, surpassing the 21 total listings in 2018.
In the derivatives market, he said, the exchange also facilitated new inter-broke relationships and signed up new market makers and liquidity providers from the Greater China region, which further expanded the derivatives trading community during the nine-month period.
“We also remain positive on the Islamic capital market, which saw increased participation by institutional investors and onboarding of new participants on Bursa Malaysia-i and Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ respectively,” he added.
Muhamad Umar said the company was expected to record a satisfactory performance for the rest of the year supported by positive domestic catalysts from the recently-announced 2020 Budget. — Bernama
