Euronext Athens Holding S.A. (EXAE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I'm Papi, your chorus call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Hellenic Exchanges - Athens Stock Exchange Conference Call to present and discuss the full year 2021 financial results. [Operator Instructions] And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Nikolaos Koskoletos, CFO; and Mr. Stelios Konstantinou, Head of Investor Relations. Gentlemen, you may now proceed.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and good morning. We'll go to you listening to us from the other side of the Atlantic. We would like to present the financial results of the 2021, which were published yesterday and are available in the IR section of our website, and then take any questions that you might have. Before we begin, note that since we have changed the reporting on our profit and loss statement, and we'll have more to say about that later on. We have also made available on our website the P&L yearly and quarterly data from 2017 to 2021 in the new format for convenience. Nick?

Thank you, Stelios, and good afternoon, and good morning to all. As Stelios mentioned, we introduced some changes to our income statement, mainly the way we present our revenue effectively showcasing the way we monitor performance in terms of operating segments and believe that is a more appropriate and clear depiction of our strategic orientation. Turning to the elements that drove our performance now. The average daily traded value increased by almost 10% in 2020 -- in 2021 as compared to 2020 at EUR 71.3 million versus EUR 65 million mark of 2020, while Q4 -- the fourth quarter was a weaker year-over-year at EUR 64 million, given the elevated base of 2020. Which, as a reminder, was the quarter where we had the initiation of that vaccine recovery trade that had happened. In Q4, the average market cap overall stood higher versus the respective period of 2020. And that also obviously facilitated the supportive overall trading volume generation. Another element that I think is a key takeaway from 2021. And obviously, in the fourth quarter, we did have some activity there as well. 2021 was a record year in terms of new issues, not only from the bond market, which obviously continues its positive run, but we also did have the activity in the equity space. Overall, EUR 8.1 billion in 2021 in terms of revenue issues compared to EUR 1.4 billion in 2020. And this is obviously almost double the cumulative 5-year period prior to 2021. In addition, we've seen and wanted to say for 2021, the basically framework of actions was adopted aiming at increasing revenues in the medium term across our strategic plan that extends over the 3 pillars that we've already talked about in the past. In terms of how things are shaping up in 2022 so far, as you probably know, we have a new CEO, that started at the beginning of March, volumes seem to be holding up for the most part, while we note that the conflict in Ukraine does not directly impact the group as we do not have any exposure, but obviously, we are following developments closely there. And in terms of other elements, I'd like to highlight that so far in 2022, we are seeing and witnessing some wage inflation pressure and notable price increases in our utility bill, especially regarding electricity. Given this backdrop -- and then in 2021, profitability, we have EUR 8.2 million in terms of bottom line. The Board will be proposing to the upcoming AGM, a $0.15 per share dividend without the capital return, given the support of earnings generation that we did have this year. This implies a close to 4% yield of 2021 share prices, either the closing price or overall, the average 2021 price. And at this point, I'd like to pass it on to Stelios to go through our 2021 performance in more detail. Stelios?

Thanks, Nick. So let's start then with the overview of our 2021 financial performance at the top. The consolidated turnover of the group in 2021 was EUR 36.1 million compared to EUR 30.7 million in 2020. That's up 17.5%. If we analyze revenue further, we can see that trading-based revenue, i.e., from trading and post-trading was up 8% on the back of higher ADTV in the cash market in 2021 compared to last year. Market cap-based revenue, i.e., from listings and other services to issuers, was up 60%, mainly due to the significantly higher activity on corporate actions in 2021, as we discussed already, while revenue from data services was up 10% and revenue from services, IT, digital and ancillary services was up 31%. So let's have a look at the new revenue lines in more detail. Revenues and trading represents 16% of total consolidated turnover. And in 2021, it was up 2.4% at EUR 5.81 million compared to EUR 5.64 million. Revenue from post-trading made up 38% of total turnover and amounted to EUR 13.9 million versus EUR 12.6 million in 2020, that's up 11%. The increase is due to the 9.4% increase in clearing revenue in the cash market while derivatives market revenue was down 5.4%. Now in post-trading, revenue from operator subscriptions increased by almost 50%, EUR 1.71 million compared to EUR 1.15 million in 2020 due to changes in the fee policies of our subsidiary, ATHEXCSD, as that became effective on 12th of April 2021, which was the date of ATHEXCSD was licensed under the CSDR regulation. As far as revenue from the derivatives markets, both trading and post-trading is concerned, in 2021 trading activity i.e. number of contracts increased by 17%. However, revenue was down 5.4%, and the average revenue per contract was down 20% to EUR 0.157 per contract compared to EUR 0.197 per contract in 2020. As you know, pricing depends on the type of investor, the product being traded and the prices of the underlying securities. And as a result, market volumes and our revenue do not always go hand-in-hand. Lastly, on derivatives, trading and post-trading revenue in 2021 was EUR 1.88 million compared to EUR 1.99 million, and that corresponds to 9.5% of total trading and post-trading revenue and 5.6% of total turnover. Moving on revenue from listing makes up 11% of total turnover. This line includes the quarterly sufficiency's paid by listed companies, fees on rights issues, IPOs and other services to issuers and amounted to EUR 4.1 million, and that's up 60% compared to last year. Revenue from data services makes up 10% of total turnover and includes the fees that we collect from data vendors for the provision of as interchange market data as well as revenue from in broker. The fees that we collect from market data depend essentially on the number of data terminals to which these data vendors disseminate our market data to, and Athex, is one of the few revenue lines that's not directly depend on market activity. Revenue from data services increased by 10%. Revenue from IT and digital services makes up 20% of our total turnover and includes revenue from digital services, infrastructure and technological solutions to the Energy Exchange Group and Borsa Kuwait. The same category includes revenue from electronic book building services, AXIAline, AXIA e-Shareholders' Meeting, our co-location services, asset net and other licenses. Revenue from this line was up 37%. And finally, Revenue from ancillary services makes up 5% of total turnover. And in 2021, it was up 11% to EUR 1.7 million compared to EUR 1.5 million in 2020. Ancillary services includes revenue from support, i.e., back-office services to the energy exchange rents, the lay service, trade reporting, education and some other minor lines. Turning now to the expense side. Total operating expenses increased by 2.5% in 2021 to EUR 21.7 million compared to EUR 21.2 million. If we break down operating expenses, we see that personnel costs are slightly lower in 2021 at EUR 11.65 million compared to EUR 11.74 million while all other expenses increased by about EUR 600,000, i.e., by 6.6%. In turn, the main drivers behind that increase were and almost EUR 200,000 increase in electricity costs, a EUR 177,000 increase in maintenance and IT costs and a EUR 131,000 increase in insurance premiums. Personnel, remuneration and expenses accounts for 54% of total OpEx compared to 55% in 2020 and is by far the largest expense category. Headcount at the group at the end of December 2021, was 228 compared to 230 at the end of 2020. Moving on now to the bottom line. The earnings before interest and taxes of the group increased by 180% -- 108% to EUR 8.6 million compared to EUR 4.1 million in 2020. Note that we booked EUR 465,000 income from the revaluation of our real estate assets compared to EUR 682,000 in 2020. This revaluation was carried out by independent estimators. We also had increased income from participations EUR 243,000 and dividends, EUR 197,000 from our participations in Boursa Kuwait and the Energy Exchange. Plus the net after-tax earnings of the group amounted to EUR 8.2 million compared to EUR 3.9 million in 2020, a 112% increase. Note that in 2020 the nominal corporate income tax rate was 24%, while for 2021, the nominal rate was 22%. Note also that the effective tax rate on consolidated earnings in 2021 was lower than the nominal rate at 13.3% compared to 21.1% in 2020. This low effective tax rate is mainly due to dividend income from subsidiaries, which is eliminated in the consolidation and to the tax benefit from the sale of the Core Bank shares that the parent company sold in the first quarter of 2021. Turning now to the balance sheet. The cash and cash equivalents of the group at the end of December 2021 increased to EUR 71.9 million compared to EUR 68 million at the end of 2020. Approximately 20% of the cash, i.e., about EUR 13.6 million at the end of 2021 was kept at the Central Bank, the Bank of Greece where interest rates are negative, currently at minus 0.5%. And with this comment about our cash balance, this concludes our brief comments on the 2021 financial results of the group. And we would like now to open the call to any questions that you might have. Thank you.

[Operator Instruction] The first question is from the line of Memisoglu Osman with Ambrosia Capital.

Well, thank you very much for your time and the presentation. On the reporting, the new reporting methodology, any more color you can provide? Is it the way where listing will show all the revenues from any kind of listing. They won't go anywhere else. And then ADTV will drive trading and post-trading. Am I reading that correctly? Or any other color would be helpful.

Yes. Okay. Thank you also for the question. Regarding the second part of your question, trading, post-trading will be driven by the average daily traded value. That is correct. And listing is the sum of 2 things. One, the annual subscriptions that listed companies pay for the service offer for being listed. And then any capital market activity with regards to new issues and admission to trading and their -- the securities registration with the CSD will also show up in that particular revenue new line. Keep in mind, though, that line will also be affected from the impact of IFRS 15 with the actual time allocation of the revenues, the actual recognition of the revenue over time. I think -- you'll see on our balance sheet, there's that figure with regards to the actual liability that we have for services to be offered. And that is -- you'll see that there's an increase of over EUR 4 million. I think that's the indication of what our revenue would have been if we had -- if we did not have to report under IFRS 15. So that is revenue that is allocated over the next few years and will be impacting that particular line. So if, for example, a new issue is using our electronic book building service, that's an additional level of -- an additional layer of revenue that goes with our digital services because the electronic book building service is not something that is mandated. It's something that is offered by the exchange as a service to issuers should we choose to use that particular setup in order to facilitate the capital formation process.

I guess anything related to issuance of a bond or an equity will be captured by the listing line.

Correct. Correct.

I think that will be helpful going forward. And then shifting gears to cost side for '22. You did mention in -- during the presentation that you're seeing some wage inflation and utility prices going up. Any color on where -- I know there's a lot of variables involved, but budget or any other guidance for cost for '22?

Yes. I think given our history of having a quite tight grip on our operating expenses overall, I mean, throughout the last few years. Obviously, now inflationary pressures are keeping up on multiple levels. Wage is being one of them, especially on the IT side. So in order to remain competitive in the -- in our particular landscape, that's something that we need to carefully pay attention to. So in terms of guidance, I would say that, that's mid single-digit level that we had kind of witnessed over the last 2 years that will be probably creeping up to higher levels. Obviously, we always remain cost cautious. We are alert. But I do not believe that it will remain at the lower levels that we had seen over the last few years.

Got it. And with the new CEO starting almost a month now, any color on strategy change? Or if anything, any guidance on that front? That's the last one on my side.

Yes. I think it's early stages. Obviously, the CEO is extremely busy with the getting up to speed with all the elements and all the initiatives that we have been looking into. I think it's fair to assume that there will be a shift in terms of prioritizing one over the other, possibly, whether we will be changing our strategy radically, I think it's too early to say. But if anything significant does come about, we will definitely be letting you know. But I think it's very early stage right now to be discussing anything significant. We do have the framework that we have been discussing over the past couple of years. I think that remains. But in terms of kind of shifting things around in terms of priorities, it is definitely within his capacity to do so, but it's still early stages with regards to that.

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you.

Thank you all for participating. Looking forward to any follow-up questions that you might have. We remain at your disposal. Our IR team is readily available. And looking forward to speaking to you again in our Q1 release. Thank you.

Thank you from my side as well. Thanks again.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling and have a good afternoon.