- Strategic plan secures future growth
- Vienna SE earnings 2018: Revenues EUR 50.7 mn (+3.8%), EBIT EUR 26.3 mn (+3.14%)
- CEESEG earnings 2018: Revenues EUR 68.92 mn (+5.56%), consolidated result EUR 36.04 mn (+6.5%)
(Vienna) In 2018/2019, the Vienna Stock Exchange strengthened its position as the leading trading and listing venue for Austrian companies. Highest trading quality is the focus of strategic efforts. The new initiatives include the launch of the SME segment direct market plus, increased availability (trading on Austrian public holidays) and the extension of the quotation list. With around 630 stocks, the global market has grown to become the second strongest market segment in Vienna. With Marinomed and Frequentis, the Vienna Stock Exchange can look back on two IPOs on the prime market in 2019. At the start of direct market plus, eight companies were listed, including four newcomers.
"The Vienna Stock Exchange is well positioned for the future. In order for investors and companies to benefit more from its infrastructure and services, impulses such as tax advantages, a further strengthening of employee participation and more financial education are necessary. With a solid domestic shareholder base, the Austrian capital market can fully exploit its strengths and catch up with the European average," said Heimo Scheuch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Wiener Börse.
"There is a lot of potential. With our infrastructure and new initiatives, we are doing everything we can to make the Austrian financial centre even more attractive. With price-building in microseconds, global connectivity and increased availability, we offer the Ferrari among trading systems. Our earnings clearly reflect how well-received our services are. They grew despite exploding regulation and the resulting additional financial burden,” says Christoph Boschan, CEO of Wiener Börse and its holding.
Earnings 2018: New initiatives bear fruit
In 2018, Wiener Börse AG generated revenues of EUR 50.7 million, an increase of 3.8% compared to the pre-vious year. The main driver was the strong equity trading turnover, which rose to EUR 68.9 billion in the year 2018 (2017: EUR 66.1 billion) despite the difficult framework conditions in a market with heavy regulatory bur-dens. Further earnings contributions came from the business segments market data, IT services and index calculation. The operating result (EBIT) was EUR 26.3 million. This is an increase of 3.14% over the previous year's result (EUR 25.5 million). As in previous years, the EBIT margin remained stable at over 50%. The equity capital of Wiener Börse AG amounted to EUR 31.4 million as of 31 December 2018 and the net profit for 2018 to EUR 20.0 million. The Vienna Stock Exchange had a total of 96 employees as of 31 December 2018.
Active investment management at Group level
The holding company of Wiener Börse AG, CEESEG AG, which also includes the Prague Stock Exchange, can as well look back on a positive 2018 financial year with earnings increasing to EUR 68.92 million. CEESEG's consolidated operating result rose to EUR 36.04 million (2017: EUR 33.87 million). The consolidated balance sheet total amounted to EUR 154 million, after EUR 151 million in 2017. The number of employees in the group as of 31 December 2018 remained stable at 175.
20 years of fully digital stock exchange trading
In January 2019, the Vienna Stock Exchange completed the transition for all securities to XETRA© T7, one of the most modern trading systems worldwide. Due to technological developments, the processing speed of securities orders is now 500 times faster than 20 years ago. From an average of 74 milliseconds in 2000, the time span has been reduced to currently 144 microseconds (0.14 milliseconds or 144 millionths of a second). While at the start of the XETRA© trading platform in 1999 an average of 50,000 transactions were processed daily, today about 6.5 million transactions are processed on a daily basis. As an IT service provider, Vienna Stock Exchange operates a "private cloud" to offer its IT services as flexibly and reliably as possible.
Delivering a world of good deals
Vienna Stock Exchange is giving its brand image a facelift. The focus is on the international positioning of the marketplace. The claim "Delivering a world of good deals" communicates the high quality and service standards of the exchange to customers such as investors, consultants, vendors and companies. "This slogan brings the understanding of our day-to-day work straight to the point. The customer is the center of our daily efforts," concludes Boschan.
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About the Vienna Stock Exchange
The Vienna Stock Exchange is the only securities exchange in Austria. It features a modern infrastructure and supplies market data and relevant information. It offers Austrian companies maximum visibility, high liquidity and utmost transparency. Investors can rely on the smooth and efficient execution of exchange trades. The Vienna Stock Exchange operates a central market datafeed for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and is well established as an expert for the calculation of indices with a reference to the region. Wiener Börse AG, together with its holding company, CEESEG, cooperates with over ten exchanges in CEE and is globally recognized for this unique know-how.
Exclusion of Liability
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forecasts that are based on assumptions current made at the time of publication of this press release. We do not assume any liability for these forward-looking statements materializing. Furthermore, we would like to explicitly point out that this press release cannot serve as a basis for investment decisions and may not be construed as a solicitation to buy or a recommendation to invest by Wiener Börse AG. No liability is assumed for the information given in this press release.