The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) on Wednesday said its income in the first three months of the year fell 71 percent to P50.62 million, from last year’s P175 million.
The operator of the equities trading market said the fall was mainly as a result of the drop in other income on lower fair value of investments and the decrease interest income.
“The Covid-19 pandemic definitely affected our revenues for the quarter. Investors opted to be liquid and hold on to cash, hence, the slowdown in trading activity particularly during the enhanced community quarantine period in Metro Manila and Luzon. Issuers also opted to put on hold fund raising plans,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.
Operating revenues for the first quarter was P294.72 million or flat from last year’s P295.8 million recorded on lower trading-related fees.
Expenses for the quarter were reduced by 12 percent to P142.56 million, from P161.82 million recorded during the January-to-March period last year on lower operational and administrative costs.
“Meeting our original target for capital raising will be quite a challenge as most companies would probably be reducing their capital expenditures and defer their expansion plans for the rest of the year. The only silver lining would be if banks become more strict and selective in their lending policy and listed companies who need funds have no choice but to raise the same from the equities market,” Monzon said.
“In terms of trading, we noted brisk trading activity in June. We hope this will be sustained in the coming months. But overall, we think that investors will remain cautious as uncertainties from Covid-19 remain. They are also waiting for second quarter numbers of listed firms for a more concrete picture on how the pandemic impacted operations and consequently, revenues of companies.”
The PSE is currently reviewing its listing rules to make fund raising in the stock market more accessible to companies. The company is also looking at potential digital services that can be introduced as a response to the new business landscape due to the impact of the pandemic.
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