London - Pan-European exchange Euronext confirmed its revenue growth and cost saving targets after a 38 percent jump in first-quarter profit on strong cash trading activity and a surge in the listing of smaller companies.
Interim CEO Jos Dijsselhof said on Wednesday the group's strategy would not change after he was named to lead the company after CEO Dominique Cerutti left earlier than planned.
Cerutti had been scheduled to leave on July 15 to head Altran Technologies but Euronext said on Tuesday it decided that it would be in the best interests of all parties to act swiftly and to appoint a replacement CEO.
Euronext, the operator of bourses in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, London and Lisbon said busy markets driven by the European Central Bank's trillion euro quantitative easing programme made for a strong quarter.
It said it was trying to cut costs by holding restructuring talks in France. It said it was committed to deliver 80 million euros in cost savings per year by the end of 2016 and 5 percent annualised revenue growth over 2013-2016.
The listings of Cnova NV, GrandVision NV and Refresco Gerber NV were among the largest of 14 flotations in the quarter, pushing Euronext's listing revenue up 12.6 percent to 15.3 million euros ($17.2 million).
A lack of bank funding continued to drive companies to raise money in capital markets, Dijsselhof said on a conference call with reporters.
“Along with the effects of quantitative easing we've seen euro zone IPO market making a strong start to the year raising more so far than the previous three years combined,” he said.
Euronext's cash trading business recorded its best quarter for volumes since 2010, with revenue rising 19.6 percent to 52.1 million euros. Its national indices rose by an average of 18 percent, the best first quarter percentage gain in 15 years.
Operating profit before exceptional items rose to 63.3 million euros in the three months ended March 31.
Euronext shares gained 1.3 percent to 39 euros by 09h10 GMT as investors took Dijsselhof's appointment and the results in their stride.
“Our positive investment thesis is reaffirmed based upon the swift appointment of Mr Dijsselhof as interim CEO and Euronext's strong Q1 results,” RBC Europe analyst Peter Lenardos said in a note.
Reuters