4Q23 select financial and operational highlights* • Total revenues of $197.2 million, up 10.9%, includes Pragma revenues of $7.6 million and an increase of $1.8 million from the impact of foreign currency fluctuations. • Total expenses of $120.2 million, up 19.9%, includes Pragma operating expenses of $8.7 million, acquisition-related expenses and costs associated with efficiency initiatives of $2.4 million and an increase of $1.7 million from the impact of foreign currency fluctuations. • 16.5% increase in diluted EPS to $1.84 on net income of $69.6 million, up from diluted EPS of $1.58 on net income of $59.2 million in the prior year. The current quarter includes a benefit to earnings in the provision for income taxes from return-to-provision adjustments and the purchase of transferable tax credits by the Company. • Record information services revenue of $11.9 million, up 14.6%, and record post-trade revenue of $11.0 million, up 24.1%. Information services and post-trade revenues include increases from the impact of foreign currency fluctuations of $0.4 million and $0.6 million, respectively. • Strong geographic and product diversification with a 10.8% increase in average daily volume (“ADV”) from international products (emerging markets and Eurobonds); record portfolio trading volume of $41.8 billion, up 35.8%, and 7.8% growth in municipal bonds on record ADV, with a record $23.7 billion in tax-exempt trading volume. • 30.3% of eligible portfolio trading volume was executed over MarketAxess X-Pro, up from 18.2% in 3Q23, as client engagement with the new platform continues to grow. • Record automated and algorithmic trading volume (+40.3%), trade count (+41.3%) and active client firms (+36.0%); record level of algorithmic responses (+40.0%). • Record 2,108 (+2.1%) active client firms, record 1,638 (+3.7%) active U.S. credit client firms; 1,053 (+2.3%) international active client firms and record 1,167 (+6.6%) active client firms trading three or more products. • 36% total credit Open Trading® share,1 down from 38% in the prior year. The Company delivered estimated price improvement2 via Open Trading of approximately $173 million in the quarter and $702 million for full year 2023. * All comparisons versus 4Q22 unless otherwise noted. Table 1: 4Q23 select financial results | | Chris Concannon, CEO of MarketAxess, commented: “In 2023, we made significant strides in enhancing our client franchise, increasing client engagement with MarketAxess X-Pro, our new trading platform, and delivering solid growth in ADV across new product areas and regions. We have integrated our market leading data, protocols and liquidity pools for clients through X-Pro, designed to make client workflows more efficient. Our innovative proprietary data is powering X-Pro, and we believe, is helping our clients make better trading decisions. We are expanding our automated and algorithmic trading solutions by leveraging our newly acquired quantitative trading expertise to generate new client algorithms. These new algorithms solve for increasing investor demand for efficiency and the need to enhance profitability. We made significant progress establishing the next generation of trading tools for clients to engage our integrated markets. We are entering 2024 with a more favorable backdrop for fixed-income, and our client franchise has never been stronger. We are focused on realizing the full potential of the investments we have made to drive continued growth in the quarters ahead.” |