HKEX released its half-yearly financial performance recently and posted record half-year profits. Part of the reason behind this was the considerable revenues that the company brought in over this period. The first half of 2021 had revenue of HK$10.9 billion, an increase of 24% compared to the first half of 2020.
After posting revenue of HK$8.8 billion for the first half of 2020, the revenue increase for the first half of 2021 was driven by a 27% increase in core business revenue. This rose from HK$7.9 billion to HK$10.1 billion. It means that core business revenue made up 93% of the total revenue for the company in the first half of 2021.
Profits attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2020 sat at HK$5.2 billion; this saw an increase of 26%, and HKEX posted profits for the first half of 2021 of HK$6.6 billion. Part of the reason for the significant rise in profits on a year-on-year basis is the careful management of expenses that HKEX has carried out.
Despite seeing a rise in revenue of 24%, expenses have only increased by 9%. It means that a large portion of the revenue increase can go towards profits. Expenses sat at HK$2 billion for the first half of 2020 and only increased to HK$2.2 billion for the first half of 2021.
This helped to create an increase in earnings per share for the company. Earnings per share for the first half of 2020 were HK$4.15, however, by the end of the first half of 2021, they sat at $HK5.22. This is an increase of 26%.
Despite the positive first-half figures for HKEX, the Q1 and Q2 figures do show a slight downturn in business. With revenue of almost HK$6 billion for the first quarter of 2021, the Q2 revenue sat at just under HK$5 billion. This is a downturn of 17%.
The company has said that while the first half of 2021 set records for both revenue and profit, the low-interest rate environment could cause investment income to be negatively affected in the long term.
HKEX recently appointed Winsome Ng as Managing Director and Group Head of Internal Audit and Alejandro Nicolas Aguzin as Chief Executive for a term of three years.
