Aquis Exchange (AQX ) announced announced unaudited results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2022 (1H22).
Financial performance
Net revenue increased 21% to £8.3m, compared to £6.9m in 1H21 while EBITDA decreased slightly to £1.4m from £1.6m a year ago after the group made significant investments in technology and development staff to foster future growth.
Pre-tax profit therefore decreased to £0.7m from £1.0m a year ago, although all three of Aquis' divisions were profitable in the period.
Cash and equivalents stayed roughly flat at £13.3m. Aquis is currently tracking in line with market expectations for FY22.
Aquis saw 12 new admissions in 1H22 and its membership grew to 42 issuers while the group's market share of all pan-European secondary trading was 5.20% at the end of 1H, compared to 5.35% at the end of 4Q21.
The Aquis Matching Pool (AMP) also launched in the period, following the asset's purchase from UBS on 4 April 2022. AMP added 0.5% to the group's total market share.
Aquis also reported the signing of two "significant multi-year technology licence" contracts, one in 1H and another post period.
Alasdair Haynes, Chief Executive Officer of Aquis, commented: "Our revenues have continued to increase, reflecting the strong momentum across the Group. This growth has been driven by increased contributions from the principal business divisions: pan-European secondary trading, technology sales, primary issuers and data revenues. The continued strength of our offering in this division is demonstrated by our finishing with 5.20% of all pan-European secondary trading by the end of 2Q22. We are also particularly encouraged by the number of new significant technology licenses that continue to be signed as this growing division becomes an increasingly material and important part of our business."
View from Vox
Overall, a good showing by Aquis in 1H, tracking in line with market expectations for FY22. Importantly, exchange revenue increased by 10% while market share in pan-European secondary trading ended roughly flat at 5.20% in what can only be described as 'difficult' equity markets.
The group continues to improve its client experience through investments in R&D, particularly cloud technology, as well as the signing of multiple large technology contracts. The pace of these investments has accelerated post period end, supporting better performance in 2H and FY23 and beyond.
Additionally, the acquisition and integration of AMP into the group's product portfolio is expected to drive further market share to Aquis across its three divisions.
As the equity markets improve, Aquis' strong cash position of £13.3m should support further R&D investments, driving increased trading volumes and attracting more issuers. We continue to be impressed by the improving number, size and liquidity in the secondary market of issuers on Aquis, 3 key metrics which determine the 'quality' of any stock exchange.
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