PSE Q1 Income down 71%

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) announced that its income for Q1 fell by 71% from ₱175 million in 2019 to ₱50.62 million.

The operator of the equities trading market explained the loss was mainly as a result of the drop in other income on lower fair value of investments and the decrease interest income.

Ramon S. Monzon, PSE President and CEO said “The Covid-19 pandemic definitely affected our revenues for the quarter. Investors opted to be liquid and hold on to cash, hence, the slowdown in trading activity particularly during the enhanced community quarantine period in Metro Manila and Luzon. Issuers also opted to put on hold fund raising plans,”

Monzon added, “Meeting our original target for capital raising will be quite a challenge as most companies would probably be reducing their capital expenditures and defer their expansion plans for the rest of the year.  The only silver lining would be if banks become more strict and selective in their lending policy and listed companies who need funds have no choice but to raise the same from the equities market,”

“In terms of trading, we noted brisk trading activity in June. We hope this will be sustained in the coming months. But overall, we think that investors will remain cautious as uncertainties from Covid-19 remain. They are also waiting for second quarter numbers of listed firms for a more concrete picture on how the pandemic impacted operations and consequently, revenues of companies.”