Euronext took €1.6m write-off on Irish Stock Exchange brand after takeover

Euronext wrote off the value of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) brand last year, taking a charge of €1.6 million, after it acquired of the 226-year-old exchange from a group of Dublin stockbrokers.

While the Irish business has been rebranded as Euronext Dublin, its official company name remains The Irish Stock Exchange plc. Euronext, which also operates markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Oslo and London, completed the Irish deal, which was valued at €167 million, in March 2018.

The latest set of accounts for the ISE, filed with the Companies Registration Office, show that the business swung into a net profit of €1.57 million last year from a €4.25 million loss for 2017.

Bonuses

The loss for the previous year came as it accounted for €13.5 million of takeover-related bonuses and other management windfalls ahead of the transaction being completed.

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Then company chief executive Deirdre Somers was the main beneficiary, securing a €5.75 million payday before she quit in September last year.

The ISE, now led by chief executive Daryl Byrne, posted a €200,000 increase in revenue to €32.3 million last year, as it consolidated its position as the world's main exchange for the listing of bonds.

As of the end of 2018, it had 34,572 debt instrument listings, representing an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.

Decline

The turnover of shares traded on the exchange was flat at €98 billion, with the effect of a 14 per cent increase in the number of trades offset by a decline in the value of stocks on the Irish market during the course of 2018.

The company’s cash position jumped to almost €42 million from €8.9 million in 2017, which was down to it reclassifying bank deposits that had previously been accounted for in its investments portfolio.

Euronext confirmed last week that it was in talks to buy the company behind the Madrid stock exchange, pitching itself against Switzerland’s SIX for one of Europe’s last standalone bourse operators.