The regulator’s earnings per share declined to 7.3 sen from 11 sen previously

by ANIS HAZIM / TMRpic

BURSA Malaysia Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 (2Q22), dropped 33.2% to RM59.47 million from RM88.97 million a year earlier, due to lower operating revenue primarily caused by a decline in securities trading revenue.

In a filing today, Bursa Malaysia said its quarterly revenue fell 22.5% to RM151.89 million from RM196.1 million.

The regulator’s earnings per share declined to 7.3 sen from 11 sen previously.

Bursa Malaysia’s trading revenue decreased by 42.1% to RM66.8 million from RM115.3 million a year ago due to a lower average daily trading volume of securities by 52.8% to RM3.1 million in 2Q22 from RM6.57 million in 2Q21.

The derivatives market average daily contracts fell 0.6% with 77,082 contracts in the quarter under review compared to 77,513 in the same period last year.

As for the Islamic markets, higher trading activity in Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ resulted in an increase in trading revenue by 16.8% to RM3.8 million from RM3.26 million.

“The exchange will continue to actively engage with its participants and continue to develop new Shariah-compliant products, such as the Digital Gold Dinar, aimed at meeting the demand of investors,” Bursa Malaysia said in a statement accompanying its results.

For the first half of 2022 (1H22), Bursa Malaysia’s net profit declined 39.4% to RM127.44 million from RM210.36 million, while revenue fell 26% to RM317.19 million versus RM5.43 million a year ago.

CEO Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said the weaker revenue stream has been influenced by domestic and global developments including global inflationary pressures.

However, taking into account the World Bank’s forecasted Malaysian economic growth of 5.5% driven by higher consumption demand, he expects the number of new listings to remain strong in 2H22.

“We will continue to enhance the attractiveness of the existing listed issuers through our Public Listed Companies Transformation Programme.

“To generate more trading activity, we will continue to actively engage with existing and potential market participants,” Muhamad Umar said.

At the time of writing, Bursa Malaysia’s share price rose 0.78% or five sen to RM6.45, valuing the group at RM5.23 billion.