By Irina Slav
Brazil’s largest exchange BM&FBOVESPA reported an 11.8 percent annual increase in revenues for the third-quarter of the year, largely thanks to derivatives trading volumes. Other contributing factors for the strong performance were unrelated to volumes, the bourse said in its third-quarter financial report. One of them was a one-off gain from the divestment of a 1 percent interest in CME Group (O:CME).
Trading and post-trading revenues in the derivatives business contributed as much as 78.5 percent of total revenues, standing at 520.6 million reais ($136.25 mln), up 7.3 percent on the year. Annual Improvements across the Board The one-off gain from the share sale, which represented 20 percent of BOVESPA’s total holding in CME Group, came in at 474.2 million reais ($124.1 mln).
Overall revenues for the third-quarter stood at 662.9 million reais ($173.5 mln), and operating profits came in at 380.5 million reais ($99.58 mln), up 7.9 percent on the third-quarter of 2014. The net income of Latin America’s second-largest bourse totaled 457 million reais ($119.6 mln), up 27.9 percent on the year. Revenues per Contract Up Average daily trading volumes in the Mercantile and Futures (BM&F) segment of the bourse grew by 24.3 percent, with the average revenue per contract rising by 8.9 percent on the year. In the Bovespa segment, average daily volumes declined 10.2 percent, and the average trading/post-trading margin fell 4.7 percent from the third-quarter of 2014.
Clearing and settlement income also contributed to the total result, with the BM&F business in its entirety – trading, clearing and settlement – accounting for 46.3 percent of the overall revenue of the company. “CME Group divestment aimed to rebalance the mix of assets in balance sheet” Commenting on the results, BM&FBOVESPA’s Chief Financial Officer Daniel Sonder, said: “In this quarter, we increased top line and operating income and executed a partial divestment of our equity holdings in the CME Group, aiming to rebalance the mix of assets in our balance sheet and reduce the Company’s risk exposure to the US Dollar and CME Group share price. This partial divestment did not alter the terms of the strategic partnership with the CME Group. We also maintained our focus on expense management and our year-to-date adjusted expenses growth is significantly below inflation.”
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the exchange focused in his comments on BM&FBOVESPA’s technological advancements, saying: "We are also pleased that our platforms and systems, put in place over the past few years, have shown resilience and efficiency in handling large volumes, and that our work in many initiatives in non-volume related business lines are yielding the desired results.”