Hong Kong's stock exchange operator on Wednesday said 2018 profit surged 26 percent to a record high, meeting expectations, boosted by fees from a number of mega IPOs in the first part of the year as well as clearing fees and strong trading. Net profit reached HK$9.31 billion ($1.19 billion) from HK$7.4 billion a year prior, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) said in a bourse filing.
That compared with the HK$9.36 billion average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv, and beat the previous record of HK$7.96 billion set in 2015. The result comes after HKEX revised its listing regime as it sought to increase its competitiveness over other financial centres following the loss of big Chinese names to New York.
HKEX's revenue from listing fees rose 63 percent to HK822 million, while trading fees rose 64 percent to HK 2.5 billion as trading turnover hit a record high. Also last year, the average daily volume of metals contracts traded on HKEX-owned London Metals Exchange rose 5 percent to 630 thousand lots.