By Archishma Iyer and Rishav Chatterjee
(Reuters) -Australian bourse operator ASX missed interim earnings estimates on Friday, sending its shares on track for their worst session in more than eight months, even as it announced plans to cut jobs across several divisions to lower expenses.
ASX could slash around 3% of its technical and operational staff, as part of a targeted restructuring it initiated last week, as the market operator makes an aim at structural re-organisation amid overhauling the cleaning and settlement software.
The underlying net profit after tax for the first half ended Dec. 31 was down 7.8% at A$230.5 million ($150.12 million), as operating expenses kept a lid on earnings arising from certain one-off regulatory and compliance costs, in addition to more investment in projects.
"(ASX) has been a mess for a while," said Henry Jennings, a senior market analyst at Macrus Today.
Jennings flagged that expenses were too high, rising 26.9% from a year earlier and 10% sequentially.
Shares of the market operator dropped as much as 4.7% to A$64.67 and were on track for their worst intraday loss since June 6.
ASX reiterated its total expenses growth forecast of between 12% and 15% for 2024, adding that total expenses in the second half of the current fiscal year was expected to be lower than the first half.
ASX said it expected about A$11 million ($7.18 million) of savings, as a result of the restructuring.
The company has multiple expense management initiatives under way, including a reduction in the number of contractors and consultants.
The bourse operator added it had begun exploring options for its interest in New York startup Digital Asset Holdings, after it completed a 45% stake sale in Yieldbroker during the first half of fiscal-year 2024.
It declared an interim dividend of 101.2 Australian cents apiece.
($1 = 1.5354 Australian dollars)