May 30 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian Stock Exchange [BUL:BSE], operator of the Sofia bourse, said on Tuesday that its consolidated net profit rose to 2.5 million levs ($1.4 million/1.3 million euro) in the first quarter of this year from 2.1 million levs a year earlier on the back of higher revenue.
BSE's consolidated revenue increased to 5.6 million levs in the January-March period from 4.7 million levs in the comparable period of 2022, the company said in an interim financial statement. Growth was driven by a rise in interest income, which went up to 1.1 million levs from 76,000 levs.
Operating expenses widened to 2.8 million levs in the review period from 2.4 million levs in the first quarter of 2022, chiefly due to a 29% leap in remuneration costs and 11% higher costs for external services, mostly made up of subscription, licence and consulting fees.
Turnover on the four market segments managed by the BSE sank by an annual 64% to 90.5 million levs in the quarter to end-March, while the number of transactions dropped by 51% to 16,167. The decline in transactions stemmed from a lower volume of deals on the BSE's main market, the BEAM growth market and the BSE International segment, by 53%, 58% and 23%, respectively.
The BSE said last week that it is proposing to pay out 0.74 levs per share in gross dividend for 2022 and raise its capital by 6.58 million levs.
As of 1335 CET on Tuesday, shares in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange traded 0.88% higher at 9.18 levs on the Sofia bourse.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)