At €644.5 million, sales revenues were up by 19 percent on Q1/2007 (€543.1 million) reflecting record trading volumes and the full consolidation of the International Securities Exchange (ISE). A further €64.3 million was generated from net interest income from banking business (Q1/2007: €46.1 million). Total costs in the first quarter amounted to €316.1 million (Q1/2007: €313.3 million), including some €10 million in depreciation of intangible assets related to ISE.

EBITA rose to a new record of €425.8 million in the first quarter (Q1/2007: €300.3 million), up by 42 percent. The net financial result of the Group in the first quarter was positively impacted by a non-realized currency gain of some €25 million related to the ISE financing. Earnings per share for the average of 192.1 million shares in the first quarter rose 61 percent to €1.58 (Q1/2007: €0.98 for 195.3 million shares).

Deutsche Börse's CFO Thomas Eichelmann spoke optimistically about the strong start to the year, "Strong trading activity on Deutsche Börse's cash and derivatives markets as well as strong performance figures at Clearstream enabled us to achieve the best quarter ever. These excellent results provide further proof of the earnings power of our business model. Based on the strong performance in the first quarter, structural growth drivers across our business portfolio, increased volatility on the global markets and tight cost management we are on track for continued earnings growth in 2008."

Segment reporting

Sales revenue in the Xetra segment rose by 4 percent to a new record of €115.7 million in the first quarter (Q1/2007: €111.0 million), largely due to the increased trading activity on the Xetra trading platform and despite a decline in retail activity. The number of transactions on Xetra increased by 50 percent to 59.6 million (Q1/2007: 39.8 million transactions), while trading volumes measured in Euro increased by 10 percent to €669.1 billion (Q1/2007: €606.5 billion). EBITA climbed 4 percent to €72.4 million (Q1/2007: €69.9 million).

Sales revenue in the Eurex segment amounted to €271.5 million in the first quarter - a strong year-on-year increase of 52 percent (Q1/2007: €178.3 million). This growth is a result of the 22 percent climb in contract volume on Eurex and the full consolidation of the International Securities Exchange (ISE). Equity and index products contributed 63 percent to the contract volume on Eurex in Q1 of 569 million contracts, while 37 percent was attributable to interest rate products. ISE added another 260 million contracts in US options. EBITA climbed by 54 percent to €179.9 million (Q1/2007: €117.1 million). Included in EBITA is a one-time effect of 9 million Euro in other operating income associated with the termination and associated sale of ISE's shares in a joint venture between ISE and TSX.

Total revenue in the Clearstream segment (sales revenue including net interest income from banking business) increased by 9 percent to €253.2 million (Q1/2007: €233.0 million). Custody volume rose by 5 percent year-on-year to €10.5 trillion (Q1/2007: €10.0 trillion), settlement instructions decreased by 6 percent to 29.5 million instructions (Q1/2007: 31.3 million). EBITA in this segment rose by 32 percent in the first quarter to €118.8 million (Q1/2007: €90.3 million).

Market Data & Analytics also showed positive sales revenue development, recording an increase of 7 percent to €44.6 million (Q1/2007: €41.7 million). The increase was driven, in particular, by newly acquired users of price and trading data on the cash and derivatives markets, as well as by growth in the Group's index products. The segment increased its EBITA by 39 percent to €27.5 million (Q1/2007: €19.8 million).

External sales in the Information Technology segment amounted to €23.8 million in the first quarter (Q1/2007: €25.2 million). The modest reduction in external sales revenues was mainly due to lower volumes on the trading platforms operated for external customers of the Information Technology segment. Due to slightly higher internal IT development activity, EBITA in this segment rose by 13 percent year-on-year to €26.2 million (Q1/2007: €23.1 million).Download the document now 13.3 kb (PDF File)