Aquis Exchange forecasts FY2020 revenues ahead of market expectations
Aquis Exchange PLC (LON:AQX), the exchange services group, today announced a trading update for the 12 months to December 31, 2020.
In its results for the year to end-December 2020, the company anticipates reporting revenues of no less than £11 million, marginally ahead of market expectations. In addition, Aquis expects to deliver its maiden full year pre and post-tax profit, a performance ahead of market expectations.
Revenue growth has been driven in part by continued high levels of trading on Aquis Exchange alongside strong technology sales, with a number of clients having renewed licensing contracts at the end of the year, and a growth in data revenues.
Let’s recall that Aquis Exchange had a robust first half of 2020. The company reported a 42% increase in revenue over both 1H and 2H 2019. The exchange also increased its European equity trading market share to above 4.5%, and achieved profitability for the first time.
Today, Aquis Exchange provided an operational update on its pan-European equities trading business, which is executed across its two trading venues, London and Paris, in order to facilitate the trading of EU-listed shares. Since January 4, 2021, Aquis has seen 99% of its continuous European share trading move across to its Paris venue and the company reported a smooth transition following Brexit.
Service has remained constant for its clients, and Aquis continues to provide the greatest depth of available liquidity amongst its peers.
Following the UK government’s agreement on equivalence with Switzerland, the company resumed trading in Swiss shares on 4 February 2021. The shares traded on Aquis Exchange’s London venue include some 130 key Swiss listed companies including Novartis, Roche and Nestlé.
Aquis also notes that there is a strong IPO pipeline for 2021, including the listing of Samarkand Group. The cross-border eCommerce technology and retail group announced on 8 February its intention to float on AQSE, demonstrating our ability to compete with other UK exchanges in the IPO market.
The Aquis Stock Exchange rulebook changes implemented in December 2020 have been operating in practice for a number of weeks, with new admissions to the Apex market required to publish a growth prospectus, facilitating private investor participation in Apex IPOs.
Alasdair Haynes, Chief Executive Officer of Aquis, commented:
“We have long been well-prepared for Brexit-related changes and are pleased to report the successful and seamless continuation of our operations in the UK and the transfer of our European trading business to the Paris office.
Despite the continued pandemic-related restrictions seen across our markets, we continue to achieve substantial operational progress and have beaten market expectations. Looking forward to 2021, we remain confident in our ability to execute against our growth strategy.”