NZX lifts 1Q revenue 3% on rising agri data sales

NZX lifts 1Q revenue 3% on rising agri data sales, flags quarterly dividend

By Paul McBeth

April 30 (BusinessDesk) – NZX, the stock exchange operator, lifted first-quarter revenue 3 percent on increased agri information sales, which made the biggest contribution in the period.

Outgoing chief executive Mark Weldon, who will today lead his last annual meeting, said the company’s information markets and infrastructure assets underpinned its quarterly sales of $13.9 million, up from $13.5 million in the same period a year earlier. In a separate statement, the company said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 3.25 cents per share.

“This result is a very strong start to 2012, with the organisation in good health and tracking to plan,” Weldon said in a statement. “The NZX platform is very strong, with events such as Fonterra’s TAF (Trading Among Farmers) and the partial floats of state-owned enterprises on the 2012 horizon, and with new business lines such as dairy futures and the Clear Grain Exchange tracking to their growth milestone.”

The NZX board will today ask shareholders to sign off on the first bump to their fee pool for seven years to $435,000 from the existing $375,000. It will also ask investors to approve the company’s $35 million capital return.

The stock exchange operator’s information service revenue rose 5 percent in the quarter to $5.3 million, with agricultural data making up almost $2.7 million of sales, the single biggest contributor to NZX’s quarterly revenue.

Infrastructure sales climbed 24 percent to $3.3 million, with energy up 21 percent to $1.9 million.

Markets revenue shrank 8 percent to $5.3 million, though a 31 percent decline in listings sales to $2.3 million was affected by a large capital raising in 2011.

The stock exchange’s shares rose 0.4 percent to $2.78 in trading today.

(BusinessDesk)

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