In 2016, EEX Group successfully continued to grow its business by strengthening its core markets, increasing its geographic reach and expanding into new business fields. “As a result of our group-wide strategy, we were able to significantly increase our trading volumes in all markets and achieve new records in sales revenue and earnings before tax (EBT)”, confirms Peter Reitz, Chief Executive Officer of EEX.
In 2016, EEX Group sales revenue rose by 23% to EUR 234.2 million. Iris Weidinger, Chief Financial Officer of EEX, explains: “We achieved this result through organic growth in our existing markets. The power and gas markets, in particular, contributed to this record level with their significant growth rates.” In the past year, earnings before tax were EUR 87.6 million which is 76% higher than in the previous year (2015: EUR 49.7 million, after adjustment for special effects).
In 2016, the transaction revenue on the Power Derivatives Market rose by 45% to EUR 87.4 million (2015: EUR 60.4 million). Compared with the previous year, the trading volume in this market rose to 3,934 TWh (2015: 2.561 TWh). In this respect, EEX also significantly increased its market share from 31% to 37% in Germany, from 24% to 33% in France and from 49% to 63% in Italy. On the EPEX SPOT Power Spot Market, transaction revenue was EUR 67.6 million which is an increase of 6% compared to 2015’s record performance (2015: EUR 63.4 million).
In the natural gas segment, transaction revenue rose by 53% to EUR 33.6 million in 2016 (2015: EUR 22.1 million). A volume increase of 86% to 1,098 TWh on the Derivatives Market in particular, contributed to this result. On the Spot Market, trading volumes rose by 43% to 688 TWh. The integration of the Danish Gaspoint Nordic gas products and the Austrian products for the Central European Gas Hub (CEGH) significantly increased the importance of PEGAS, the central gas trading platform of EEX Group.
The Environmentals segment, which essentially comprises the emission allowance markets, grew by 56% to EUR 2.5 million (2015: EUR 1.6 million). This was supported, in particular, by growth on the secondary market for emission allowances. In this respect, EEX was able to increase its trading volumes by 192% to 310 million tonnes of CO2 in 2016 (2015: 106 million tonnes CO2).
In the Global Commodities segment, which includes the markets of Cleartrade Exchange (CLTX), EEX Group recorded transaction revenue of EUR 1.1 million in 2016. With significantly increased volumes in the CLTX markets for iron ore and fuel oil and initial trading transactions in the EEX freight contracts, EEX Group was able to achieve its first successes in this business segment.
In 2016, the transaction revenue on the Agriculturals markets rose by 50% to EUR 0.3 million (2015: EUR 0.2 million). Furthermore, EEX achieved record volumes on the Dairy Derivatives Markets. In 2016, the sales revenue in the Market Data Services segment was EUR 5.0 million which is 34% higher than in the previous year (2015: EUR 3.7 million). The reporting services with which EEX supports its customers in fulfilling regulatory reporting requirements, in particular, have gained in importance. Additional revenue amounted to EUR 36.5 million – compared with EUR 37.8 million in the previous year. This revenue includes, for example, annual fees, fixed fees for technical connections and market coupling as well as clearing for partner exchanges which are not fully consolidated within EEX Group.
With a view to the current financial year Peter Reitz states: “2017 will again be an interesting year for EEX Group. In the summer, we will migrate the Power Exchange Central Europe (PXE) power products to a common platform with our other power derivatives products. We have also set ourselves targets beyond Europe: Subject to the required regulatory approvals, we will acquire the US-American Nodal Exchange and, as a result, we will directly expand our offering with contracts for Northern America which is the biggest power derivatives market in the world. In summary, we will continue to pursue our aim of establishing ourselves as a global multi-commodity platform and, with Deutsche Börse, we have a strong partner to achieve this aim.”
EEX Group provides the central market platform for energy, energy-related and commodity products and enables access to a network of over 500 trading participants. The offering of the group comprises contracts for Energy, Environmentals, Freight, Metals and Agriculturals listed at the European Energy Exchange, EPEX SPOT, Powernext, Cleartrade Exchange, Power Exchange Central Europe (PXE) and Gaspoint Nordic. Clearing and settlement of transactions concluded or registered on the exchanges is provided by the central clearing house European Commodity Clearing. EEX Group is part of Deutsche Börse Group. For more information: www.eex.com