Takeover target London Metal Exchange reports falling profits
PROFITS at the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 19 per cent last year, as higher costs and investments outweighed a sharp rise in trading volumes.
The results come as three major exchanges – CME Group, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, and Intercontinental Exchange – compete to buy the LME, the world’s largest metals marketplace. The exchange has been independently valued at £1bn.
The exchange disclosed it would pay Moelis & Co, its financial adviser, a £3.5m fee plus 0.5-0.7 per cent of the valuation of the exchange if it is sold.
According to figures in the LME’s annual report, revealed by the Financial Times, revenues at the LME rose by a fifth last year.
That was on the back of a 22 per cent increase in trading volumes in its contracts, which serve as global benchmarks for metals such as copper, aluminium and zinc, but net profit fell from £9.5m to £7.7m on the back of higher costs.