Irish Stock Exchange dividends to Euronext parent near €65m since takeover

The Irish Stock Exchange, which trades as Euronext Dublin, has paid almost €65 million in dividends to its parent Euronext since its takeover in 2018.

The sum equates to almost two-fifths of the €167 million that Euronext paid five Irish finance houses — Davy, Goodbody Stockbrokers, Cantor Fitzgerald, Investec and the now defunct Campbell O’Connor — to acquire the Irish exchange from them five years ago.

The company behind the Irish bourse said in recently filed results for 2022 that it was proposing a €19.2 million distribution to its parent, based on its financial performance for last year. A spokeswoman said that this has since been paid. Some €20.6 million of dividends were paid up in each of the two previous years, the report said.

Previous filings show that the Irish company paid €4.39 million of dividends in 2020, the first distribution following the takeover.

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The exchange operator, which is known to make most of its money from international debt and fund listings rather than its cash equities business, saw its revenues dip 4.7 per cent to €39.7 million last year as the rate of new debt listings declined amid a slump in bond sales globally as borrowing costs soared. Operating profit declined 8.2 per cent to €22.5 million.

Euronext Dublin is the world’s main market for bond listings, with a total of 3,000 issuers across 90 countries including sovereigns, corporates and financial institutions.

The wider Euronext group saw its number of new bond listings fall last year by 42 per cent to 8,540. Euronext Dublin is the group’s main hub for debt listings, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the total, according to the report.

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Some 100 new funds were listed in Euronext Dublin in 2022, down from 115 for the previous year “reflecting the strong appetite for sustainable funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)”, it said. However, there were a number of investment fund delistings during the period as a result of heightened regulation and increased cost pressures on asset managers.

The average daily value of trading in Irish equities on Euronext Dublin rose marginally last year to €269 million from €263 million in 2021. However, there were no initial public offerings on the market last year.

That has continued to be the case in 2023. In addition, CRH, previously the largest company on the Iseq, delisted from Euronext Dublin last month as it moved its primary stock market quotation from London to New York.

Smurfit Kappa, another market heavyweight that is looking to merge with a US rival, signalled recently that it also plans to quit the Irish exchange for New York.

Flutter Entertainment, owner of Paddy Power, is also expected to depart the Irish market in the near future, having decided earlier this year to take out a listing in the US.