(Bloomberg) — ASX Ltd. shares capped their best day in six years after Australia’s main exchange operator gave a positive outlook on its listings business ahead of Anthony Attia’s arrival as the firm’s chief executive officer next month.
The stock gained 9%, the most since March 2020, after flagging buoyant listings demand. The exchange listed 100 new entities in the 12 months through June, up 45% on the previous year, it said in a statement Thursday.
“Our new listings pipeline is the strongest it has been in several years,” interim chief Darren Yip said. “Recent new listings data bears out a more confident posture and a return to higher levels of activity,” with Glencore Plc’s plans for an Australian listing underscoring the market’s attractiveness, he added.
The results serve as a starting point for Euronext NV veteran Attia when he takes the helm at the exchange on Sept. 1. He’ll need to execute a strategy overhaul to regain the trust of investors after years of technical failures in ASX’s markets infrastructure and regulatory scrutiny. The stock has fallen 36% from a peak in 2021.
Net income fell 3.5% to A$484.9 million ($342 million) during the year. That compared with the A$509.3 million average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Total expenses jumped 21%, while revenue grew 13%.
“We see this as a sound result,” Citigroup Inc. analysts led by Nigel Pittaway wrote in a note. “This aside, we await for firmer strategic directions from the new CEO.”
The period marked a “reset” for the exchange, Yip said in the statement. “Meaningful progress has been made in our transformation and there is more to do.”
The firm reaffirmed its capital spending guidance for the current financial year. In May, ASX boosted its outlook to between A$180 million and A$200 million, sparking the stock’s worst day on record. It expects to spend A$170 million to A$190 million in the fiscal year starting July 2027, according to the statement.
The exchange operator remains under close watch by regulators and market participants. Traders are waiting on an upgrade to its clearing and settlement systems after years of glitches and an outage in December 2024, with completion expected in 2029. TMX Group Ltd.’s purchase of Cboe Australia could also challenge ASX’s trading turnover dominance.
ASX declared a final dividend of A$1.047, down from A$1.121 a year ago. The company in February forecast reduced payouts for the next few years to fund a A$150 million capital charge imposed by the nation’s financial watchdog.
(Updates with stock move in second paragraph)
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