Hong Kong bourse’s 2024 profit rises 10% to a record on surging stock transactions, IPOs

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), which operates Asia’s third-largest stock exchange, reported record annual profit on higher market turnover and a surge in new listings amid a market rally that started in September.

Net profit in 2024 increased 10 per cent to HK$13 billion (US$1.7 billion), or HK$10.32 per share, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday, beating the previous record of HK$12.5 billion in 2021. It was also better than the market expectation of HK$12.94 billion.

HKEX proposed paying a second interim dividend of HK$4.90 per share, bringing the total to HK$9.26 for the year, versus HK$8.41 in 2023, and maintaining the payout ratio at 90 per cent of earnings.

Profit in the final three months of 2024 jumped 46 per cent to HK$3.78 billion, exceeding the market estimate of HK$3.7 billion. The group benefited from the stock market rally from September when interest rates began to fall and China announced stimulus measures to support the economy and shore up equity and property prices.

“HKEX achieved significant strategic progress in 2024, with the implementation of key initiatives to enhance its market microstructure and listing franchise,” CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting said in her first full-year result announcement after taking over the helm from Nicolas Aguzin in March last year.

These ongoing efforts have reinforced Hong Kong’s position as a leading international financial centre and, along with the market rally in the third and fourth quarter, helped HKEX report its highest-ever annual revenue and profit, she added.