Euronext tops sixth consecutive growth quarter with buyback

By Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega

(Reuters) -The pan-European exchange group Euronext on Thursday

reported third-quarter adjusted core profit which beat market expectations, helped by rising revenue and cost savings.

The company also announced a 250 million euro ($292 million) buyback.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The company continues to offset its dependency on equity trading, whose volatility led to a bumper crop in the first half of the year, but whose revenue streams have since come down.

As the company is wrapping up its most profitable year in history it said that 60% of its total revenue now comes from non-volume related activities.

KEY QUOTES

"Euronext is not a proxy of equity volumes, anymore." CEO Stéphane Boujnah told Reuters.

BY THE NUMBERS

Euronext's adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 12% on the year to nearly 277 million euros, compared to almost 270 million forecast by analysts polled by the company.

The announced buyback will run from November 18 until March 31 at latest.

CONTEXT

The company boasted consequent record revenues in the first two quarters of the year, as rising trading volumes offset an IPO drought, and aided its efforts to consolidate European markets.

Boujnah welcomed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's call for a European stock exchange, recently revived after decades of discussion after among others by the Draghi report.

He said he has "high hopes and high confidence" for a European Commission December proposal for an SEC-style supervisor, arguing it could help unlock the trillions of euros Europeans hold in savings.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Mateusz Rabiega; Editing by Matt Scuffham)