PSE income up 11.6 percent in 6 months

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) reported a net profit of P417.51 million in the first semester, 11.6 percent more than a year ago due to higher investment income.

On the other hand, operating revenues were lower by 12.9 percent to P740.09 million due to a 20.8 percent and 6.3 percent decline in listing and trading related fees, respectively, data from the PSE showed.

In terms of capital raising, funds generated from the sale of primary and secondary shares through the PSE slowed in the first six months with only P36.99 billion worth of capital raised, from P61.92 billion in the same period last year.

PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said the capital raising pipeline in the first half was not as robust as expected.

“There are offerings targeted in the next two months and hopefully, there will be additional IPOs before the year ends,” Monzon said.

Data from the PSE showed that from January to June, there were two initial public offerings (IPOs), two follow-on offerings (FOOs), three stock rights offerings (SROs), and six private placements (PPs). In the first half of 2022, the PSE had eight IPOs, one SRO and four PPs.

In terms of value, daily average value turnover slipped by 4.4 percent to P6.98 billion as of end-June 2023.

In terms of foreign transactions, the stock market registered a net foreign selling of P25.43 billion.

Costs were effectively managed as total expenses only increased by 5.0 percent to P380.50 million.

To boost capital raising and trading activities in the market, the PSE has been implementing various initiatives.

Its wholly owned subsidiary, the Securities Clearing Corp. of the Philippines (SCCP), is targeting to migrate to the shortened settlement cycle of T+2 from the current T+3 settlement cycle on Aug. 24, 2023.

SCCP is currently doing pre-launch activities with the relevant market participants to ensure a smooth transition to the new settlement cycle.

The shift to the shortened settlement cycle follows SCCP’s implementation of a new clearing and settlement system in March 2023. The system was provided by LSEG Technology, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.