Bursa Malaysia Bhd, which attracted 13 new listings in 2017, expects to see more companies listed on the Main and ACE Markets this year.
“The IPO (initial public offering) pipeline seems to be tracking quite well. So we expect that it will probably be slightly higher than last year,” its CEO Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said at a media briefing today.
“And we think some of the big ones is coming,” he added, noting currently there are four registered companies that are still waiting for approval to be listed on the stock exchange.
Last month, Binasat Communications Bhd, which is involved in the provision of telecommunication supporting services for satellite as well as mobile and fibre optic telecommunications networks, became the first listing for the year.
Meanwhile, Tajuddin said the stock exchange operator has no plans to increase or reduce the listing fee at the moment, as it looks to introduce incentive or rebate schemes.
Additionally, he said, the local exchange plans to introduce more products and services this year to create a conducive capital market ecosystem for all market participants.
“We are still in a process of getting approval and putting things in place. Not only in terms of product, we are also trying to have more players as well as selling agents,” Tajuddin said.
Going forward, he said the securities market segment is expected to remain resilient, given recent encouraging economic data, the strengthening ringgit and expected positive corporate earnings.
Trading, however, may be influenced by local and external factors, such as geopolitical developments and the tightening of monetary policies in major economies in 2018, he added.
On the derivatives market, Tajuddin said volatility in commodity prices and the underlying equity market will continue to affect hedging and trading activities of the crude palm oil futures and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Futures contracts.
The local bourse’s net profit rose 10.2% to RM55.27 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 against RM50.17 million in the previous corresponding period, driven by higher contribution from the securities market.
Revenue expanded 14.1% from RM123.74 million to RM141.2 million.
Its full-year net profit rose 15.2% from RM193.62 million to RM223.04 million, with revenue rising 9.9% from RM506.78 million to RM556.83 million.
For the year under review, securities market trading revenue increased 21.9% to RM259.6 million on the back of higher average daily trading value for securities market on-market trades which grew 27.7% to RM2.3 billion.
It has declared a second interim dividend of 18.5 sen per share amounting to RM99.4 million for the quarter under review, which will be paid on March 5, 2018.With that, the total dividend (including special dividend) declared for the year amounts to 53.5 sen per share.