Johannesburg Stock Exchange

By MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG– THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Group has announced a marginal growth in earnings to R920 million in the past year characterized by tough market conditions.
The earnings were 2 percent up from R899 million gained in 2015.
“2016 was a challenging year for both the JSE and its clients and we are pleased that, in this environment, we were able to grow the ordinary dividend to shareholders and continue to make significant year-on-year trading fee reductions to find ways to make it more affordable for our clients to do business with us,” says JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King.
During the period, the group’s total operating expenses increased by 12 percent to R1,4 billion (2015: R1,3 billion) following higher technology investment to ensure robust product and service delivery to clients, staff costs and expenses to support the JSE’s ecosystem.
The JSE, the continent’s biggest exchange, generated R976 million (2015: R888 million) and ended the year with a robust balance sheet, including R2 billion (2015: R1,9 billion) in cash.
It invested R205 million in capex in a continued investment in technology.
The board has decided to declare an ordinary dividend for the year ended December 2016 at 560 cents per ordinary share which is an increase of 8 percent.
Newton-King said notwithstanding the difficult economic environment both globally and locally, JSE was focussed on pursuing objectives of running a world class, fully integrated multi-product exchange which gave clients the opportunity to fund their growth.

– Guardian