Trading, IPO surge bumps HKEX first-half net to record high (updated)

Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co

08/08/2018 06:36

* H1 net profit HK5.04 billion vs HK$3.49 billion year
earlier 
    * Average daily volume of lots traded on LME up 28 percent 
    * Trading fees up 68 percent in first half
    * IPO deals jump 50 percent, including growth board
transfers

 (Adds details, comment from HKEX chair)
    By Alun John
    HONG KONG, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's stock exchange
operator posted a rise in first-half net profit to an all-time
high, thanks to record revenues from both trading and new
listings.
    Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX)  0388.HK  said net
profit for the six months to the end of June rose 44 percent to
HK$5.04 billion compared to HK$3.49 billion ($444.62 million)
for the same period a year earlier.
    Trading fees for the first half were 68 percent higher than
a year earlier, as trading volumes rose, and listing fees were
12 percent higher.
    "During the first half of 2018, the world's financial
markets experienced bouts of volatility following significant
corrections across major stock markets. Investor sentiment was
dominated by uncertainties over escalating U.S./China trade
tensions, geopolitical risk in several parts of the world and
policy divergence of major central banks," said Laura Cha, HKEX
chairman in the company's exchange filing.
    Cha, named to the role in April, said average daily turnover
in the Hong Kong securities market was HK$126.6 billion for the
first six months of 2018, up 67 per cent compared with a year
earlier.
    In June, HKEX Chief Executive Charles Li was reappointed for
a further three years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TF3FN  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1S3238
    The number of IPO deals were 50 percent higher in the first
half of the year compared to the same period last year, if
transfers from the Growth Enterprise Board to Hong Kong's main
board were included, the exchange operator said.
    In April, HKEX finalised a major shake up of its listing
regime. The new rules allow listings by companies with a dual
class share structures, and also by biotech firms that have not
yet earned any revenues. The exchange also eased the
requirements for Chinese companies listed overseas to do a
secondary listing in Hong Kong.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1QD3D7
    In July, smart phone maker Xiaomi  1810.HK  became the first
company to list with a dual class structure, while Ascletis
Pharma  1672.HK  was the first to list under the new biotech
rules.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1U518R  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UM1KH 
    The strong listing momentum appears to have continued into
the third quarter.
    Earlier on Wednesday, China Tower  0788.HK , the world's
largest operator of mobile telecommunications towers, debuted on
the exchange, having raised $6.9 billion in the world's largest
IPO in two years. China Tower's shares traded broadly flat.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UY4PL
    Companies have raised $22.4 billion in Hong Kong through
listings this year, the city's strongest seven-month
performance, data from Thomson Reuters showed.
    In the first half of the year, average daily volume of
metals contracts traded on the London Metals Exchange, which is
owned by HKEX, rose 28 percent to 764,000 lots.
    The board declared an interim dividend of $3.64 per share,
accounting for 90 per cent of the profit attributable to
shareholders.
($1=7.8494 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Alun David John; editing by Neil Fullick)
 ((AlunDavid.John@thomsonreuters.com; +852-28415827;))