PSE reports 59% jump in 2007 income

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) reported a 59-percent jump in its 2007 net income, mainly driven by higher revenues from listing fees.

In its financial report, the PSE said its net earnings grew to P433.42 million from only P271.76 million as operating income surged 76.3 percent to P993.4 million.

The listing fees which accounted for 46.2 percent of total operating income, came from the initial public offering (IPO) of 10 companies, 87 additional listings (P261.36 million) and one delisting (P683,000).

These included the IPOs of Pacific Online Systems Corp. which raised P353.42 million; National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines, (P2.42 billion); Phoenix Petroleum (P355.25 million); Aboitiz Power Corp., (P10.09 billion); GMA Network Inc. (P776.44 million); Anchor Land Holdings (P580.45 million), I-Remit Inc., (P65.03 million), Splash Corp. (P1.95 billion); eTelecare Global Solutions, and Oriental Peninsula Resources Group (P594 million).

Membership fees, which comprised 16.78 percent of operating revenues, also increased by 90.04 percent due to higher transaction fees which went up by 146.83 percent, and block sale fees which rose 85.16 percent on increased volume.

Also contributing to the increase is the 14.37-percent rise in membership fees from subscriptions due to an increase in the number of Maktrade terminals and connections for communications front end.

The Securities Clearing Corp. of the Philippines, a wholly-owned unit of the PSE, helped fuel the higher revenues as SCCP fees surged by 133.42 percent from P102.37 million to P238.96 million. The SCCP fees contributed 24.05 percent to total operating revenues of the company due to higher total trade value from P1.14 trillion to P2.68 trillion in 207.

Operating expenses rose 26.75 percent to P343.4 million due to higher compensation and other staff-related expenses owing to additional benefits granted to employees. Manpower cost climbed 23.05 percent due to additional benefits given to employees such as additional bonus for exemplary performance of stockmarket building activities,

As of end-December last year, the PSE’s total assets stood at P2.66 billion or 17.4 percent higher than the previous level while retained earnings climbed to P587.55 million

The exchange remained liquid with working capital of P994.6 million and a current ratio of 4.73:1.