Aquis goes fintech: Platform diversification sees 24% increase in revenue achieved in 2022
Aquis has reported solid financial results for the year ended 31 December 2022, with net income up 24%.
The group’s exchange technology and services developer Aquis Technologies achieved year-end turnover of £5m, up from £4.4m in 2021. Although revenues were up from 2021, pre-tax profit fell from £2.4m in 2021 to £1.7 million in 2022.
“When we look at the opportunities outside of financial services, it’s endless,” Alasdair Haynes, CEO of Aquis Exchange, told The TRADE.
“I think what’s starting to excite people is that we’re becoming much more of a fintech company rather than just ‘our exchange is an exchange.’ Our technology segment is actually becoming a fintech company, a provider of technologies to us and to other people, other financial companies and potentially companies outside of that.”
Aquis reported growing interest in exchange technology provided by its Aquis Technologies operating segment, with its offering expanded to include a 24/7 Matching Engine – due to launch on Monday next week.
In 2022, the exchange achieved net income of £20.1 million, up 24% year-on-year compared to the £16.2 million reported in 2021.
Profit before tax increased by 27% to £4.5m, up from £3.6m in 2021. Underlying profit, which refers to profit before tax plus other comprehensive income, saw significant increases of 41% to £4.7m compared to £3.3m in 2021.
Aquis Group’s three operating segments (Aquis Markets (the group’s two MTFs, AQXE and Aquis Exchange Europe), Aquis Stock Exchange and Aquis Technologies) all saw a jump in revenue and profit for the year ending 2022.
UK-regulated Aquis Markets (AQXE) and French-regulated Aquis Exchange Europe (AQXE) achieved revenue of £12.4m in the year ending 2022, up from £10.9m in 2021. Pre-tax profit between the two MTFs increased from £1.4m in 2021 to £2.5m in 2022.
The group’s primary listing and trading business, Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE), also saw increases in revenue from £1.9m in 2021 to £2.4m in 2022. Pre-tax profit also increased from £220,000 in 2021 to £388,000 pounds in 2022.
Other 2022 highlights for the group include further diversification of the Aquis Markets offering into dark pools, which offset a decline in illuminated volumes across the market.
Speaking to The TRADE about Aquis’ move to dark pools, Haynes said: “We bought the assets of UBS MTF and then we kept it on their system and then last August we moved the technology. We saw dark pool market share drop – as we said would happen – because people obviously needed to test the system. They had to be absolutely sure that they were happy with what we built. But since then we’ve seen it grow from 2-3% of the dark pool to just under 8%, and it continues to rise.
“And it’s the same for the periodic auction, where we were around 2% of all auctions until last October. We made some changes and now we’re around 10-11% of the periodic auctions. So I think the diversification of the model Our experience in the marketing business, by adding these products and by changing the products, has given us a suite that I think is very attractive.”
The Aquis Stock Exchange – despite adverse market conditions – also delivered 22 new IPOs in 2022, which the group said is the largest exchange of growth companies in the UK.
Speaking about last year’s results, Haynes added: “We’re actually a bit ahead of consensus, which I’m happy with, and we’ve been since we’ve had that set of results. We have never not made our numbers. In fact, we have been ahead of the numbers almost every time – on or ahead. The market has a consensus on where they expect us to be this year, which continues the growth.
“We’ve had a good first quarter, and then people say you’re ahead of expectations. Well, our upcoming expectations are of course significant growth because we are a growth company. We are very happy with where we are today.”
