Selected financial figures for the first half of 2023 (% corresponds to change in comparison with the same period of the previous year)
- Operating income increased to CHF 771.1 million (+2.6%, or +4.4% at constant currencies).
- Operating result before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased to CHF 225.6 million (+5.6%, or +9.0% at constant currencies).
- Non-operating result decreased on a half-year basis due to one-off positive effects in the previous year.
- Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) consequently fell by 17.4% to CHF 133.3 million (-14.9% at constant currencies).
- Group net profit is down by 13.3% at CHF 105.1 million (-10.3% at constant currencies).
Operating result on track
In a challenging market environment, dominated by inflation and rising interest rates, SIX achieved a good result for the first half of the year. SIX increased its operating income by 2.6% year-on-year to CHF 771.1 million, with growth at constant currencies coming to 4.4%. Post-trading business made a particular contribution to this increase as a result of high volumes on the repo markets and the data business with successful contract wins. These positive developments more than compensated for lower income in the Banking Services business unit and declining stock exchange trading volumes, which had been higher in the previous year due to a sharp rise in volatility as a result of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, SIX kept its cost base stable despite a challenging environment due to inflation, with costs up only slightly year-on-year (+1.4%). Overall, this resulted in a 5.6% increase in the operating result before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to CHF 225.6 million. Due to a positive one-off effect from the full acquisition of the trade repository Regis-TR in the first half of 2022, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) declined to CHF 133.3 million (-17.4%) and Group net profit to CHF 105.1 million (-13.3%).
Business highlights in the first half of 2023
In the reporting period, five Chinese companies generated gross proceeds of approximately USD 1.2 billion in total from the listing of their global depository receipts on SIX Swiss Exchange. The Spanish stock exchange BME welcomed four new companies to its BME Growth segment for small and medium-sized enterprises. The new companies raised a total of approximately EUR 23 million in capital. In January, the Swiss city of Lugano also placed the world’s first digital government bond on a regulated financial market infrastructure with SIX Digital Exchange (SDX).
In May, SIX began cooperating with FlexTrade to offer the streaming of global market data in real time using a cloud-based solution. SIX also partnered with the Greek Piraeus Bank in June, taking on responsibility for its international assets. In addition, SIX posted a new monthly record of 6 million transactions for its end-to-end digital invoice eBill in May.
Jos Dijsselhof, CEO of SIX, emphasizes: “With this increase in our operating income for the first half of the year, we are on track to achieve our medium-term target for annual turnover growth of four percent. Our well-diversified business model has thus proven successful again. Even in these challenging times, our services and innovations ensure access to the capital markets and the flow of information and money between financial market players in Switzerland and abroad.”