Exchange Data Revenues Continue Rises

In Europe, Deutsche Börse saw its net revenues sore with the German exchange group posting revenues of €594.4 million ($645.5 million)—an increase of 20 percent compared to €495.6 million ($538.2) for the same period last year. This increase was driven in part by positive developments in its Market Data + Services and its index business, as well as administration of securities (Clearstream) and high equity market volatility. Market Data + Services revenue rose 12 percent from €92.5 million ($100.5) for Q3 2014 to €103.5 million ($112.4), of which real-time and historic market data generated €37 million ($40.2 million). Deutsche Borse’s index business also performed well. Since July 2015 both Stoxx and Indexium have become wholly owned subsidiaries of the group, fuelling the growth.  Investor appetite towards “passively managed financial products, such as ETFs, led to an increase in assets under management in these products,” which has meant higher licensing revenue for the MD+S division, exchange officials say. 

European exchange group Euronext declared a 3.7 percent decrease in overall net profit compared to the same period last year, posting earnings of €47.7 million ($51.8 million), though market data and indexes revenue for the quarter was €24.4 million ($26.5 million), up 1.2 percent compared to Q3 2014. This was due to a positive start from its new global index server, which debuted at the end of September.

Spanish exchange Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) posted net profit of €40.9 million ($44.4 million), up from €38.5 million ($41.8 million) compared to Q3 2014. Earnings for the exchange’s market data division totaled €8.6 million ($9.3 million), up 25.4 percent year-on-year, mainly driven by a higher client uptake numbers, more direct connections, and more subscribers to information from primary sources at the different levels, which rose 3.4 percent compared to the same period last year. 

The London Stock Exchange Group reported a 44 percent increase in its information services revenues to £133.7 million ($203.8 million), up from £93 million ($141.8 million) year-on-year.  The group’s FTSE Russell Indexes business pulled in £90.7 million, with the index businesses now managed and reported as an integrated business. Total revenue rose 93 percent following the Russell acquisition to £566.1 million ($862.8 million) from £292.7 million ($446.1 million) last year. 

Across the pond, Nasdaq’s net revenues for Q3 also rose, with the exchange posting a six percent increase year-on-year from $497 million to $529 million. Information Services, which makes up 25 percent of the exchange’s total revenues, bought in $132 million for Q3, up $18 million from Q3 2014. The exchange attributes this to a $12 million operational increase and a $9 million increase from index provider Dorsey Wright, which Nasdaq acquired at the start of 2015.  The exchange also saw increases in the revenues for its data products from proprietary and shared tape revenue plans and higher audit collections. 

It was a similar story at Canadian exchange operator TMX Group, which posted total revenues of C$175.9 million ($132.2 million) for Q3 2015, up from C$170.2 million ($128 million) for the same quarter last year. Of that, information services—which includes revenue from the group’s microwave network business Strike Technologies Services and Razor Risk—brought in $51.2 million, up from $45.9 million last year. 

Finally, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which acquired market and reference data provider Interactive Data for $5.2 billion in October, posted a 24 percent revenue increase for its data services division, bringing in $209 million. The exchange attributes the increase to higher data services fee revenues, primarily due to the addition of new users, value capture related to expanded product offerings, and the addition of SuperDerivatives and ICE Benchmark Administration. Overall net revenues for the exchange grew 10 percent year-on-year to $816 million.