Deutsche Brse has just had its best ever second quarter and half-year periods. Sales were up 71 per cent in the first quarter to Euros 351.9 million and by the same amount to Euros 702.4 million in the first half. Gross earnings climbed 44 per cent in the quarter to Euros 115.3 million and by the same amount to Euros 241.4 million in the half-year.
The earnings before interest, taxes and goodwill amortizations (EBITA) came to Euros 131.3 million euros, up 62 per cent on the Q2 2002 result of Euros 81.2 million. For the first half-year, EBITA was Euros 273.4 million, 61 per cent up on the Euros 169.6 million in the first half of last year.
How? One reason is that the results include the fully consolidated figures from Clearstream for the first time, since it was only included from the third quarter of last year. The Luxembourg-based ICSD had the biggest sales of any division, with Euros 134.2 million and EBIT of Euros 30.7 million.
Eurex also increased sales in the second quarter, to Euros 103.9 million, after Euros 73.6 million in Q2 2002. The EBIT more than doubled in this segment, from Euros 27.9 million euros to Euros 59.7 million euros. “This is a direct effect of the economies of scale produced by the business model of Deutsche Brse,” explains the exchange group.
The equity market and information businesses were not so hot. In the Xetra segment, sales came to Euros 50.4 million, down on the Euros 52 million recorded a year ago. Though trading activity in the Xetra electronic order book was well up, floor trading was well down. Nevertheless, EBIT increased from Euros 4.8 to Euros 6.9 million.
Information Services posted sales of Euros 30.4 million euros compared with Euros 33.1 million in Q2 2002. The EBIT for the quarter just ended was Euros 12.6 million, compared with Euros 13.9 million euros in Q2 2002. The decline in sales was partially offset by lower operating costs.
In Information Technology, external sales decreased from Euros 46.6 million euros to Euros 33.0 million because of lower revenue from the Xontro floor-trading system and consolidation effects after the full takeover of Clearstream. As a result of tighter cost management, the EBIT fell by a smaller amount, from Euros 21.2 to Euros 17.9 million.