US Exchange Data Revenues Rise as Europe Battles Volatility, Lower Subscriber Numbers

Intercontinental Exchange saw the biggest data revenue jump, driven by its acquisition of Interactive Data. ICE reported net profit for the third quarter of $344 million against $1.1 billion in revenues, including $489 million of revenues from data services, up from $209 million for the same quarter last year. This figure includes $209 million from pricing and analytics, $144 million from desktops and connectivity, and $136 million from exchange data.

Nasdaq posted net revenues of $585 million, up from 11 percent from $529 million in Q3 last year, primarily driven by acquisitions. The exchange’s Information Services business—which makes up 23 percent of Nasdaq’s total net revenues—contributed $137 million, up $5 million from Q3 2015. Data Products revenues were $109 million, up $6 million compared to last year, which Nasdaq attributes to growth of proprietary data products revenues, the inclusion of revenues from the acquisitions of the International Securities Exchange and Nasdaq CXC, as well as higher audit collections. However, Index Licensing and Services revenues declined by $1 million to $28 million for Q3.

CME Group pulled in $101 million from its market data and information services, up 2 percent from $99.5 million in 2015. Overall, the exchange reported total revenues of $841.7 million for Q3, down from $850.3 million for the same quarter last year, largely resulting from a 1.5 percent decrease in clearing and transaction fees.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange reported operating revenue of just $156.2 million in Q3 2016, against $187.0 million in 2015, largely down to a decline in transaction fees. CBOE pulled in $8.2 million for market data fees, up from $7.1 million for Q315. This was due to higher revenue from its share of OPRA market data and proprietary index data.

Meanwhile in Europe, German exchange Deutsche Börse increased its net revenue for Q3 by 0.6 percent to €558.5 million ($620 million), though net revenue for its market data division fell by 6 percent to €95.8 million ($106.4 million). The exchange attributes this weaker performance to consolidation efforts following the sales of Infobolsa in February to Spanish exchange Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles (BME), and news business MNI to investment holding company Hale Global in July. Revenue from the index business line, which in the past has pushed up revenue, also declined. 

Meanwhile, the Infobolsa deal saw revenues at BME’s information division rise 18.1 percent to €11.2 million ($12.2 million) for Q3, compared to €9.5 million ($10.7 million) for the same period last year. The exchange attributed this to the full integration of Infobolsa, and the expansion of the information services and content it offers. However, the revenue rise came despite a 12.6 percent decline in the number of end users subscribing to BME data, and overall, the exchange reported net profit for the third quarter of €35.1 million ($38.3 million), down 14 percent from Q3 2015. 

The Warsaw Stock Exchange reported a net profit of PLN (Polish zloty) 40.4 million ($10.4 million) against revenue of PLN 73.7 million ($19 million), but saw mixed results from its financial market and commodities market trading, as well as its listing business, all of which fluctuated up or down compared to the previous quarter and the same quarter one year ago. Revenue from information services, which accounts for 13.6 percent of total revenues, was PLN 10 million ($2.6 million), up 4.4 percent over last year, but down 2.4 percent on Q2 this year, with the year-on-year increase driven by the expansion of existing contracts to cover automated trading and other uses, as well as by increased interest in commodities data.

Data revenue at the London Stock Exchange rose 13 percent to £148.5 million ($180.8 million) for Q3, despite a fall in terminal numbers consuming real-time LSE data from 75,000 to 73,000 and a drop from 130,000 to 129,000 for terminals consuming Borsa Italiana data. The revenue rises are largely due to subscription fee changes and demand for other data products. Overall, LSE posted Q3 revenue of £376.2 million ($457.9 million), up from £326.5 million ($397.4 million) for the same period last year.