The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) increased net profit by 71% in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period of 2013, to EUR 2.1 million. The company’s turnover was up by 39%, to EUR 4.26 million, according to the quarterly financial report.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange is the operator of the Romanian capital market. The largest part of its revenues comes from trading fees. As the stock trading value increased in the first nine months, so did BVB’s trading revenues.

The total value of stock trading was some EUR 2.3 billion, 56% higher compared to the first nine months of 2013. Part of this increase was due to the electricity distributor Electrica's EUR 444 million initial public offering (IPO), in the second quarter of 2014.

In the third quarter, BVB had no large transactions. The value of share trading in the period July 1 – September 30 was almost EUR 690 million, up by a third compared to the same months of 2013. BVB’s operating revenues were up by 29%, in the third quarter, to EUR 1.4 million, while expenses were down by 13.5% to EUR 0.73 million, due to lower personnel costs.

Net profit tripled compared to the third quarter of 2013, to EUR 835,000.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange is a listed company. No shareholder currently owns more than 5% of its shares, as the law doesn’t allow this. The main shareholders are local banks and investment funds, as well as brokerage houses.

The BVB has a market capitalization of EUR 52 million (as of November 6, 2014).

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com