FIONA REDDAN

The Irish Stock Exchange reported a 35 per cent increase in pre-tax profits in 2012, despite a 4 per cent decline in revenues.

In the year to December 31st 2012, the exchange saw pre-tax profits rise to € 6.3 million, up from € 4.6 million in 2011. However revenues fell, declining by 4 per cent to € 20.4 million, as the exchange’s primary markets business declined by 3 per cent to € 13.2 million. This sector, which includes international funds, debt and equity securities listings, accounted for 65 per cent of the exchange’s revenue last year, and was impacted by global economic uncertainty which has affected the level of product issuance in recent years, particularly in relation to investment funds.

“However there has been some uplift in activity in recent months and we believe that revenues from our primary markets business will grow in 2013,” the exchange said in a statement.

The ISE reported a return of € 1.2 million from financial investments in 2012, down from € 1.3 million in the previous year.

“The economic environment remains challenging but we dealt with our challenges well during 2012,” said Deirdre Somers, ISE chief executive. “We remain focused on diversifying our income streams across our business lines and geographically. In the year ahead, we see increased activity in international fixed income and we are also looking at opportunities to develop new and innovative sources of income.”

Ms Somers also called on policy makers to ensure that “dynamic Irish companies achieve scale”.

“We look forward to contributing to the Action Plan for Jobs and the initiatives proposed to encourage domestic business achieve scale using the IPO route as an alternative to trade sale,” she said.