This is the best nine months result since 2008. Third quarter net profit increased 6.3%, to €40.9 million.

Revenue to September stood at €264.6 million, up 6.3% year on year. In the third quarter revenue was €83.3 million, up 4.8% year on year.

Operating costs in the third quarter increased by 5.4% to €25.5 million in year on year terms, bringing operating costs through September to €78 million, for a 5.2% increase. Stripping out the effect of extraordinary costs and those associated to the Reform of the Clearing and Settlement in Spain, the increase in operating costs through September moderate to 1.3%.

EBITDA for the first nine months amounted to €186.6 million, up 6.7% year on year, while third-quarter EBITDA totalled €57.8 million, 4.5% higher than a year earlier.

The main management indicators remained favourable at the end of September in year on year terms. The efficiency ratio and the Return on Equity (ROE) improved 0.3 points to 29.5% and 1 point to 41.1% respectively to September, compared to a year ago

Earnings per share until September 2015 amounted to €1.59, a €0.12 per share improvement year on year.

EQUITIES

Revenues generated by the Equity unit between January and September amounted to €120.9 million, up 5.6% year on year, while third quarter revenues totalled €36.9 million 4.2% higher.

During the first nine months of the year, the unit’s EBITDA was €92.6 million, having increased by 8.2% from a year earlier. The third quarter closed with EBITDA of €27.4 million, 5.5% higher year on year.

From January to September turnover in the Equity market totalled €745.5 billion, 21.4% higher than the same period in 2014. Year to date the greatest growth in equity products is taking place on warrants and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). From January to September turnover on warrants was 45.3% higher than in 2014, and 36% in the number of trades. The ETF segment has increased by 75.3% the number of trades for the nine-month period, exceeding €10 billion turnover for the first time, an increase of 41.5% year on year.

Total investment flows channelled into the exchange during the nine months ended September stood at €36.2 billion, 63.9% higher year on year.

SETTLEMENT

Total revenues of the Settlement and Registration unit stood at €61.8 million between January and September, having risen by 1.6% year on year. EBITDA for the period totalled €48.1 million having declined by 1.1% year on year.

The unit’s revenues were €18.9 million in the third quarter, down 4.2% on the revenues generated in the same period of the previous year. EBITDA for the quarter stood at €14.6 million, 6.3% less than the unit obtained in the third quarter in 2014.

A total of 38.2 million operations were settled in the first nine months of the year, 1.8% less than in the same period the previous year. In the third quarter of the year, 11.1 million trades were settled, representing a fall of 10.5% on the third period in the previous year.

CLEARING

The Clearing unit obtained revenues from clearing house operations of €4.5 million in the third quarter of 2015, up 8.8% on the same period in 2014. The higher relative number of IBEX 35® futures and Mini futures trades had a positive effect on revenues during the period. Total clearing revenues over the first nine months amounted to €13.5 million, outstripping by 3.6% revenues from January to September 2014.

The rise in operating costs due to the Reform of the Clearing and Settlement system impacted third-quarter and year-to-date EBITDA, which was down on the same periods the previous year.

Third-quarter EBITDA was down 13.9% at €2.1 million, while EBITDA for the first nine months stood at €6.1 million, 19.7% lower year on year. Third-quarter operating costs were up 40.3% versus those of the third quarter of 2014 at €2.4 million. Year-to-date operating costs were up 36% year on year at €7.4 million.

MARKET DATA

The unit’s third-quarter revenues totalled €9.8 million, up 28.3% year on year, contributing to a 23.1% rise in year to date revenues to €28.5 million versus the same period a year earlier.

After factoring in the operating costs, the unit’s nine-month EBITDA amounted to €25.7 million while third-quarter EBITDA totalled €8.6 million, having risen 23% and 25.4%, respectively, year on year. The uptick in the unit’s revenues and EBITDA was primarily fuelled by the increase in client numbers, direct connections, and subscribers of information from primary sources services.

The total number of end user subscribers to information from primary sources at the different levels rose 3.4% compared to the same period a year earlier.

DERIVATIVES

Third-quarter revenues totalled €3 million, up 6.4% year on year, while year-to-date revenues were 2.6% higher than a year earlier at €9.3 million. EBITDA for the third quarter was 5.6% higher than in the third quarter of 2014 totalling €1.7 million, while in the first nine months of 2015 EBITDA was €5.4 million, up 6.5% year on year.

The year-on-year uptick in the unit’s revenues in the third quarter was primarily fuelled by the positive performance of index-linked futures. IBEX 35® futures trading increased by 14.1% in the quarterly comparison and by 15% in the year-to-date comparison. Mini IBEX® futures trading also increased, by 13.7% in the quarterly comparison and by 22.8% in the year-to-date comparison.

FIXED INCOME

Current low interest rates are not favouring Fixed Income trading. In the third quarter, trading in the Fixed Income business stood at €110 billion, down 54.9% on the same period in 2014.

Trading between January and September totalled €507.3 billion, also down 51.7% year on year.

Trading in Public Debt stood at €24.9 billion in the third quarter of 2015 and €74.3 billion over the first nine months of the year. These figures result from year on year decreases of 16.2% in the third quarter and 15.5% in the nine-month period.

The Fixed Income unit generated 14.7% fewer revenues in the third quarter compared to a year earlier after posting revenues of €2.3 million. The unit posted in the third quarter EBITDA of €975,000, a fall of 29% on the same period in 2014, and €3.6 million from January to September, a 27.7% year-on-year decrease.

IT & CONSULTING

The IT and Consulting unit’s revenues for the first nine months of the year from the provision of the various services it offers totalled €13.4 million, down 1.5% year on year.

Third-quarter revenues of €4.3 million were posted after falling 15.5% from those generated in the same period of 2014. For comparison purposes, this difference primarily stems from the regularisation in September 2014 in the outsourcing of services, which meant an increase in revenues.

Year-to-date EBITDA dropped by 2.7% year on year to €5.4 million, while third-quarter EBITDA totalled €1.7 million – a decline of 31.6% from the same period a year earlier.

The best performing services relative to the previous year were: trading support services; financial communication services (BME Highway), which saw a rise in demand; and Regulatory Compliance services (BME Confidence Net).