MCX shares slide 8% post Q4, dividend declaration

Shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) tumbled nearly 8% in intraday trade on Wednesday as investors resorted to profit booking after the homegrown commodity exchange released its March quarter earnings report. The country's first listed exchange has declared a final dividend of ₹7.64 per equity share for the financial year 2023-24.

Snapping two sessions gaining streak, MCX shares opened lower at ₹4,015 against the previous closing price of ₹4,028.20 on the BSE. Extending opening losses, the stock declined 7.7% to hit an intraday low of ₹3,715.15, while the market capitalisation dropped to ₹19,690 crore.

The shares of MCX has witnessed strong rally in the last one year, rebounding 215% from its 52-week low of ₹1,289.20 touched on May 22, 2023, to hit a 52-week high of ₹4,070 on April 12, 2024. The midcap stock has risen 72% in the past six months, and 21% in the calendar year 2024. In the last one month, the counter added over 14%, while it rose nearly 1% in a week.

MCX, India’s largest exchange in the commodity derivatives market segment, released its earnings report for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024, on Tuesday, posting consolidated net profit of ₹878.7 crore in Q4 FY24, significantly higher than ₹5.45 crore in the same period last year. The company had reported net loss of ₹5.35 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2023.

Revenue from operations rose 35.43% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹181.14 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024.

On the operating level, EBITDA zoomed multi-fold to ₹120.33 crore for the fourth quarter as against ₹22.15 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal and ₹ (1.97) crore in the sequential quarter. For the quarter ended March 31, 2024, the EBITDA margin was 60.33% and PAT margin was 44.06%.

For the full financial year 2024, MCX’s total income increased by ₹177.77 crore to ₹758.94 crore, up 30.59% YoY. The net profit dropped to ₹83.11 crore as against ₹148.97 crore in the previous fiscal, lower by 44.21%.

The EBITDA stood at ₹139.70 crore as against ₹217.35 crore for the previous year, lower by 35.73% mainly on account of payment made to technology vendor and contribution to Settlement Guarantee Fund (SGF).

In FY24, the average daily turnover (ADT) of futures and options (F&O) increased by 89% YoY to ₹1.08 lakh crore, the highest since inception. The ADT of commodity futures declined by 16.5% during the year to ₹19,636 crores versus ₹23,514 crores in FY23.

The combined number of traded clients for futures and options witnessed a 50% growth, reaching 9.32 lakh from 6.22 lakh last year.

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