Hong Kong’s stock exchange operator has notched its best-ever quarterly profit as a flood of trading and initial public offerings boosted the bourse ahead of a new chief executive taking the helm.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said on Wednesday that post-tax profits jumped 70 per cent year on year in the first quarter to HK$3.8bn (US$490m) as core business revenue driven by turnover and listing fees rose more than a third to a record HK$5.5bn. Investment income swung to a gain of HK$418m from a loss in the first quarter of 2020.
“HKEX has had a strong start to 2021,” said Calvin Tai, interim chief executive, who pointed to a “buoyant IPO market and very robust trading volumes . . . set against a challenging economic and geopolitical backdrop”.