PSE triples profits to P151.5M in Q1
The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. reported that its net income tripled in the first quarter of 2021 to P151.5 million from the P50.62 million it earned in the same period last year.
In a disclosure, the bourse said the surge in profits is largely brought about by the 31.49 percent or P92.8 million growth in operating revenues and net improvement in the fair value of financial investments by 39.40 percent or P24.61 million.
“The favorable variance in operating revenues was mainly due to the increases in major revenue streams, listing-related fees, trading-related fees and service fees, which were higher by P28.01 million, P20.75 million and P48.20 million, respectively,” the PSE said.
After taking into account the increase in total expenses by 5.92 percent or P8.45 million, net income after tax posted an increase of P100.88 million compared with the same period last year.
Total expenses (cost of services and administrative expenses) for the period amounted to P151.01 million, up by 5.92 percent from P142.56 million for the same period last year.
Of this total, 45.84 percent or P69.22 million represented cost of services consisting of expenses that are directly related to the operations of the Exchange such as compensation and other related staff costs, depreciation, office expenses, communications, and repairs and maintenance.
This amount was higher by 13.67 percent or P8.32 million from last year's P60.89 million primarily due to the higher manpower cost by 68.72 percent or P10.40 million.
Moreover, administrative expenses of P81.79 million were slightly higher by 0.15 percent or P0.12 million compared with last year's P81.67 million.
On the other hand, investments in financial assets registered a net loss in the first quarter that was lower by 39.40 percent or P24.61 million from last year's net loss of P62.48 million mainly caused by P30.74 million improvement in the fair value of the PSE's investment in equity funds. The equity funds are being managed by professional fund managers under a purely discretionary mandate.