Gielda Papierow Wartosciowych w Warszawie SA

WSE:GPW

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Unknown Executive]

[Foreign Language] Hello, and welcome to this conference of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Group presenting its Q1 2024 results, which were published last night after the session closed. But today, we are meeting investors analysts and media to share the details. Thank you for being with us today.

Our speakers today are Tomasz Bardzilowski, CEO of the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Board members Izabela Olszewska, Monika Gorgon, Adam Mlodkowski. We also have Piotr Zawistowski, CEO of Towarowa Gielda Energii, TGE, welcome; and [indiscernible], CFO of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. My name is Robert Stankiewicz. It is my pleasure in this new role as person responsible for communication of the Warsaw Stock Exchange to be with you here today. We will now show the details of the results, after which we have time for Q&A. If we have many questions, we'll try to address as many as possible now or by e-mail. And now over to Tomasz Bardzilowski, CEO, Warsaw Stock Exchange.

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Hello. Good afternoon, and welcome to this conference. This was a good period for the Warsaw Stock Exchange. We have seen continued rallies on the indices since the beginning of the year, WIG20 gained 9.4%, WIG gained 12.7%. The gains of more than 30% since mid-October put us among the best performance globally.

We see strong interest of investors, especially foreign investors. Poland is trendy, and we hope that this trend on Polish assets will continue. We are particularly glad to see growing turnover on the exchange, one of the biggest gains in EOB equity turnover in Europe on the main market, 18% year-on-year by liquidity as measured by Velocity that is turnover to free float remains one of the highest in Europe.

We are also pleased to note that this positive trend in turnover has continued month after month. We have record high performance when it comes to our financial results. In Q1, the group reported revenue of EUR 118.2 million, up 5.3% year-on-year, mainly driven by revenue from the financial market, up by nearly 12% year-on-year with a slight decrease in commodity market revenue. EBITDA dropped 8.8% year-on-year to EUR 31.8 million. The net profit attributable to the owners of the parent entity was PLN 27 million, up 2% year-on-year. The milestones and highlights early this year include the fact that the Warsaw Stock Exchange Supervisory Board has appointed Vice President of the Management both for IT and Technology, Slawomir Panasiuk, who will take up this position after he gets the KNF approval. We are glad to have this appointment. We welcome this in view of the many challenges, including the implementation of our new trading system.

There have been some changes on the management Board of Towarowa Gielda Energii as well. The general meeting appointed Piotr Listwon, Former Vice President for Operations as President of the Management Board. And let me take this opportunity. We have Piotr Zawistowski, CEO of TGE with us. I would like to thank him for long time fruitful cooperation, and I hope we will continue to collaborate in a different format.

Another important highlights, which we will discuss later on are changes in European regulation. We will present them later on during this presentation as it is an important factor. As we've heard from Ursula von der Leyen during her addressed at the Economic Congress in Katowice, the Capital Markets Union remains an important theme to be accelerated in the future.

These regulations include some deregulation, relaxation of provisions, which happened last April. We welcome the fact that the European Parliament has adopted the Listing Act, which is important as it extends or expands the prospective exemptions for listed companies. We hope this was implemented in Poland, will help to bolster the scale of issues and equity raised by listed companies. This was my introduction, now over to Izabela Olszewska. She will take you through details of the market environment in which we operate.

[Izabela Olszewska, executive]

Thank you very much. Let's have a look at the financial markets. First of all, let me present the international context. The first quarter of this year and more broadly, 2024 year-to-date. And the past 7 months have been very good for the Warsaw Stock Exchange for more than one reason, especially when it comes to our indices which had hit the all-time highs. Looking at comparative data from other markets, the total return indices, the broad market index, WIG and our large cap index WIG20 TR, total return, were among the best performers globally, year-to-date as well as from October 13, 2023. And this date is a reference point as this was the date of the Polish election.

The past year has been -- the current year has been good when it comes to turnover as well. As you look -- if you look at the figures, the year-on-year change in turnover on the Warsaw Stock Exchange as well as the velocity ratio, we have been a top European performer. If you look at year-on-year change in EOB equity turnover in euro, these numbers include both European exchanges on the slide and the MTFs alternative trading venues. The biggest stock exchanges and MTFs alike report year-on-year EOB turnover in equities that dropped. So -- and the velocity ratio also ranks the Warsaw Stock Exchange among the top leaders alongside the other big European exchanges with Velocity at 39% for GPW.

Let's move now to the local market. Let's have a look at the developments on the cash market, where EOB turnover increased, as you can see on the chart in the Zloty year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter alike it's important to note the very satisfactory average EOB turnover value in Q1, which stood at PLN 1.3 billion. The average fee decreased modestly, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year and the fee derives from the turnover mix and the activity of the HVP and HVF participants in market makers, they have to comply with a range of obligations under those programs and agreements to take advantage of reduced fees. The share of HVP, HVF participants market makers in main market turnover was 33.6% in Q1, an increased modestly quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

Let's come to look at our products, especially the ETF segment, which has continued to expand. It's on an upward trajectory for many quarters now, which is something we welcome. In this segment, we have high expectations regarding both the development of the product offering and the level of turnover.

Let's now talk about IPOs, SPOs and ABB. In Q1 2024, there were three new listings on the main market. These were transfers from NewConnect, and there was one IPO on NewConnect. There was an SPO and an ABB on the market. But the conclusion seems to be that the despite the growth, the strong index rally and the high growth in turnover in equities, we still have not seen a reflection of that trend in the public offerings. The good news is, the European market is rebounding in Q1 according to all reports, the IPO value increased by 300% to EUR 4.8 billion, which is a good omen for the Polish market as well, and we expect the Polish IPO market to pick up as well.

Derivatives. Turnover in derivatives is largely determined or driven by volatility. In Q1, volatility was lower, both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. As a result, the total volume of turnover in derivatives was lower when compared to Q1 2023 and to Q4 2023. Our flagship product being the WIG20 futures reported a modest increase year-on-year and a dip quarter-on-quarter. Here, HVP and HVF programs, market maker programs in derivatives markets play a role as well. In Q1, these partners had a share of more than 40% in total turnover. The average fee on WIG20 futures was flattish quarter-on-quarter. And increased modestly year-on-year.

Let's look at the debt market. Please note the increase in the number of listed series of non-treasury debt, we saw issues nominated both in the Zloty and in the euro after conversion of the Euro series into the Zloty on the left at the top of the slide, you can see the aggregate numbers for all the issues, I should like to stress that public issues introduced the trading play a special role in Q1. Public issues worth PLN 430 million were introduced to trading. Some selected issues are listed here: Echo investment, Ghelamco Invest and Kruk. Importantly, new green products were floated included in our Warsaw Sustainable Segment. In March, green bonds of Bank Pekao worth EUR 500 million and of Ghelamco Invest worth PLN 125 million were introduced to trading.

At the end of March, the total value of the Warsaw Sustainable Segment increased to PLN 20.6 billion. As we've stressed on many occasions, we want the green products to become ever more popular, including sustainable linked bonds under our Warsaw Sustainable Segment.

[Piotr Zawistowski, executive]

Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you to the CEO for this very kind introduction today. Regarding the commodity market and turnover. As you can see, last quarter, reported dips in basically all segments year-on-year. Although, as I've said in other occasions, quarter -- year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter comparisons, I'm not very obvious if you compare Q4 to Q1, that may be misleading as parameters and market play behavior changes.

On the electricity market, especially if you compare Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, the decrease was reported on the spot market primarily. The forward market decrease was modest. And so the forward market remained flattish. The spot market, however, reported a decrease. As I've said on other occasions last year, the spot market was very active after the introduction of new regulation at the end of 2022, which kept the contracting of Marketplace high and impacted trading strategies. Now, this market is falling. The forward market has not picked up yet.

In December, the regulation for the electricity market was extended to protect consumers but without the component regarding the traders management results, which affects the behavior of market base. Gas market dropped, both spot. No, spot market grew modestly, the forward market dropped. This -- the spot market increased, albeit the property [ black market ] was affected by the termination of -- or rather the reduction of the obligation to redeem green certificates down to 5% this year, which does not encourage market players to redeem certificates.

The RES property rights turnover year-on-year. dropped significantly. But quarter-on-quarter, there's less seasonality and less comparability. This depends largely on how fast the sellers obtain energy efficiency certificates from the Energy Regulatory Office that impacts the behavior of the marketplace and the observed liquidity of the exchange market. Thank you.

[Adam Mlodkowski, executive]

Good afternoon. As the CEO said in the beginning, in Q1 2024, the group of the Warsaw Stock Exchange reported historically high revenue at more than PLN 118 million up by more than 5% year-on-year, mainly driven by higher turnover in the financial market, as we mentioned, and higher revenue on the financial market for the exchange. The revenue stood at PLN 74.2 million up by more than 11.5% year-on-year. In the period, operating expenses increased by 9.5% and stood at PLN 94.4 million. The increase was mainly driven by an increase in salaries and external service charges. More on that later when we discuss the upcoming slides.

The operating profit, given that the growth rate of revenue was lower than the growth rate of expenses, dropped 9% year-on-year and amounted to PLN 24.2 million. The net profit increased, however, by 2.1%. And the net profit attributable to owners of the parent entity was PLN 27.2 million, mainly driven by lower provisions for VAT at IRGiT and a very good financial performance of KDPW.

The net profit of KDPW in Q1 grew more than 15% year-on-year. Our EBITDA dropped 8.8% to PLN 31.8 million, mainly as a result of the lower depreciation and amortization charges year-on-year. The charges, well the depreciation and amortization was partly capitalized. And on the other hand, our CapEx increased; more on that later. EBITDA was close to the consensus, whereas the operating profit was 3% above the consensus.

Moving on now to the revenue mix. On the left-hand side, you can see the trend we have reported for a number of quarters, an increase in the share -- of the share of revenue from the financial market at nearly 63% in Q1 2024 or PLN 74.2 million. On the other hand, the share of revenue from the commodity market decreased slightly as did other revenue. On the right-hand chart, the pie chart, you can see the continued diversification of our business, which has not changed materially. Please note that the significant share of information services at 13.6%.

The financial market revenue, excluding the financial market, remained high, and the share of the commodity market shrank slightly in Q1 2024. Other revenue dropped to 3.7%.

On the next slide, you can see the operating expenses, which increased by 9.5% year-on-year, a similar increase, slightly slower than in the KDPW Group, which runs a similar business that we do in the same value chain. Now that increase was mainly driven by growing salaries and employee costs as well as external service charges. The increase in salaries was driven by a number of factors, including the growth in the number of FTEs quarter-on-quarter -- apologies, year-on-year in Q1 2024 as compared to Q1 2023 up on 22 FTEs. The average salaries also increased by just under 6%. We paid higher bonuses and the cost of benefits and other items also increased, including overtime pay and unused holidays. As a result, the salary and employee costs increased by 18.3% year-on-year to more than PLN 40 million.

External service charges, the increase here mainly derived from an increase in the cost of IT infrastructure maintenance, a significant growth in double digits, which is also typical for the industry. IT services. It's not just that we are the only one affected quite the opposite. Depreciation and amortization, PLN 7.7 million down by 8.3% year-on-year. Now look at this number in conjunction with the increase in CapEx. As I've said, some depreciation is capitalized.

CapEx stood at -- just on the PLN 15 million in Q1 2024, significant year-on-year increase by nearly 60%. The share of CapEx in revenue or the ratio of CapEx to revenue was more than 12%. And if you compare it to Q4 2023, it dropped significantly by more than 42%. Of the PLN 14.9 million, a significant part relates to investments in our trading system WATS PLN 6.8 million over that period. But we were also implementing other projects PLN 1.3 million in total costs. As with OpEx, we will make best efforts to keep the CapEx under control in the upcoming period.

My final slide shows the separate results of the Warsaw Stock Exchange with this much higher increase in revenue as a percentage compared to the consolidated numbers, 12.2% with a significant increase in revenue from trading in shares 16.5% year-on-year to nearly PLN 35 million. When it comes to revenue from derivatives and debts of the revenue dropped or failed to increase year-on-year.

Our operating profit was up 6.3% to -- well, it stood at more than PLN 12 million in Q1 at the Warsaw Stock Exchange alone. On a stand-alone basis, we do not see a positive impact of lower provisions reported in the TGE Group or the financial results of the KDPW Group, Hence, the net profit on a separate basis dropped to PLN 10.6 million, and this was down 9.8% year-on-year. EBITDA dropped much less than on a consolidated basis, however. That's all when it comes to the financial results. Back over to Mr. Zawistowski who will present the financials of the TGE Group.

[Piotr Zawistowski, executive]

Thank you. Again, I will focus on comparing Q1 2024 and Q1 2023, which seems most comparable. Importantly, please, if you look at the results, the decrease in the revenue of the TGE Group was smaller than would be derived directly from our turnover as a result of two main drivers, two interlinked factors. The results on electricity and gas trading. In electricity trading revenue increased even though turnover dropped. As we've said before, we changed our fees in early 2023. This was a phased process. Some of those changes kicked in on the first of January for the gas and electricity forward market, and we continue to apply some reductions. The spot fees for the gas and electricity market were changed in mid-February, which impacted the average prices of our services per megawatt hour for both these products.

Now in Q1 2024 the new fees apply fully as of January 1, hence, a much bigger revenue than it would follow from our volumes.

The other items, property rights, trading, clearing, et cetera, are described here when it comes to volumes and the change and the impact on the revenue. As for operating expenses, the increase was driven by higher salaries, as mentioned before, for the group. And 1.6% of that was driven by salaries. Finally, net profit increased in 2024 year-on-year which was due to higher net financial income included in this line. Thank you.

[Monika Gorgon, executive]

As the CEO mentioned in the introduction, we've seen some important regulatory change in our financial market, which we hope will bolster the activity of issuers. In April, the European Parliament approved the Listing Act, which provides a number of prospectus exemptions, raising the exemption threshold from the current 20% to 30% and an increase of the exemption for an offering from EUR 8 million to EUR 12 million. The prospectus regulation imposes additional conditions on the exemptions for issuers whose securities have been listed for at least 18 months. These conditions vary depending on the market in which the securities are listed.

Another important point is the optimization of the size and volume of the prospectus including the introduction of new provisions on simplified prospectuses. The other changes away with the listing directive and amendments to the MAR. When it comes to the MAR, the regulations have been somewhat liberalized, especially when it comes to transactions concluded by persons that are closely related to the issuer and the lack of the obligation to publish inside information and delays in disclosing inside information.

Another key matter is the work on the Capital Markets Union. The Warsaw Stock Exchange is actively and continues to be active working on the consultation of the Capital Markets Union. What is key from our point of view is to strike a balance between European integration and protecting the ability of the local stock exchanges to effectively raise capital. Thank you.

[Unknown Executive]

This was the presentation summarizing the first quarter of the year and the last few weeks on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Are we ready for questions? We have a number of questions. Let's start with a question from [indiscernible].

Can you see increased interest of foreign investors? If so, what are they asking about most of all?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

This is a very good question indeed. We can see indices gaining ground. So who is behind it. This is also reflected in the statistics that are publicly available and a growing share of remote exchange members in turnover in Q1. So it would seem that the growing turnover is being driven by foreign investors. We've been actively meeting at investor meetings and one-on-one meetings with foreign investors, especially from the U.S. And we can see interest in Poland. We are very happy to note that there is interest in the Polish market. If I may quote one of the recent press articles, "Foreign investors find Poland trendy as we can see, from an inflow of capital into the equity and treasury bond market."

The questions we often get as the Warsaw Stock Exchange, including about the capital, financial market, these are questions about the outlook for the market and also when -- whether and when we are expecting any new big IPOs. Regarding the Warsaw Stock Exchange as a company, we are being asked about the potential we see for our business segment, the financial segment. And we clearly say that we see a lot of potential for growth. Over the past years, the financial market has lagged behind the GDP growth. And so we hope that we can make up for it and fill that gap. This will impact the results of our core business, as you can see, once again, it is the driver of growth of the group as such, we hope that the other drivers will soon kick in and that it will make the record high growth in revenue continue. Thank you very much.

[Unknown Executive]

Let's follow up on the drivers of [indiscernible]. It's a question to Ms. Olszewska. Could you expand on IPOs? You're expecting a recovery? Is this because of the pipeline, your negotiations, the discussions with potential issuers, what is the expected number of potential issuers?

[Izabela Olszewska, executive]

Thank you for this question. However, I cannot give you a very specific answer because I cannot share any names of companies considering to be floated. This will be premature. But yes, we are in communication with brokers, banks. We hear their opinion about the markets and we are expecting a number of transactions currently under consideration. We also see some recovery in our close contacts with companies. More companies than before are asking about the stock market and how to raise capital. So they are now busy talking to us. However, when it comes to names or numbers, this is not something I can share.

[Unknown Executive]

A question from our foreign participants. Wood & Company, when are you expecting to update your strategy.

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Update of our strategy. We are working very hard to review our various strategic initiatives, of which there are many. As soon as we have made up our mind, as soon as we have decided, we will share that with you. When it comes to the publication of a strategy with new financial targets, I ask for your patience. I think we will first release information about the potential directions of our growth and development as the exchange and the group.

[Unknown Executive]

A question to follow up on what you've just said [ Mikael Lamanchuk and bank ] in which areas are you expecting cost savings and on the strategic initiatives, you said you're planning to optimize costs in some segments. Can you tell us which segments are you expecting to optimize? And so what is the expected scale of those savings?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

As we said in the previous meeting, we hope that the scale of the recent cost increases in the company will be contained, especially cost income. We'll be working to keep it low. We are starting to work on an implementation of a cost optimization program. As for those segments, together with our people, we have identified a number of potential initiatives to reduce our expenses. When it comes to specific segments of the quantification of the savings, it would be too early to share that.

[Unknown Executive]

Another question from [ mBank ] . Given the good financial position, would you be willing to increase your dividend yield or dividend payout?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Yes, this is the dividend paying period, and we will share more about what the management board recommends when it comes to the dividend payment as soon as possible in the coming days.

[Unknown Executive]

A question from Pekao BP [indiscernible]. What are the key threats you perceive when it comes to the Capital Markets Union?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Well, as we've said, the Capital Markets Union is a great opportunity for the Pan-European market. But what is key for us is that this -- that we maintain our edge in this big market and that we can continue to attract investors and issuers. What we want to do first is to be more engaged in the discussions that is now coming back. The Polish presidency of the EU is starting on the first of January next. So this will be an opportunity for us to be heard about the opportunities for growth of local or regional groups, such as we are.

[Unknown Executive]

Another question from an individual investor. What are the new management board members planning to do for individual investors? When will individual investors be taken seriously?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

I think, well, we see the biggest potential in reaching out to our individual investors with our offering, we want to make our offering even more attractive. And the Warsaw Stock Exchange lists many attractive companies. We hope to list even more, but we are also developing our ETF offering. We have taken a range of initiatives to make them even more attractive to individual investors. We are also working on rate type products, which would allow more investors get exposure to the real estate market and to earn a return in that segment. So concerning individual investors, we see a lot of potential and many of our strategic initiatives will address the needs and expectations of individual investors as well.

[Unknown Executive]

One more question from the same investor about the expectations of investors. Cash and investments are now PLN 70 million. Your equity is PLN 1 billion, and the cash flows from operations are PLN 100 million, PLN 200 million annually, which suggests you have over liquidity. Are you expecting to pay out an extra dividend?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Well, as I said, our recommendation for a dividend payment will be published within days. And that's all I can say at this point in time.

[Unknown Executive]

Moving on. A question about [indiscernible] TGE, Bloomberg is asking, "How the changes in the energy price limits and tariff limits could impact the markets operated by TGE?"

[Piotr Zawistowski, executive]

I should like to say that the regulations currently in the legislative process referred to price limits and the protection of some groups of consumers. But compared to the regulations implemented in late 2022, there's no reference in the new regulation to interference in wholesale trading by companies. The previous regulation put caps on margins or windfall profits that impacted wholesale strategies.

So it's hard to say now how this will impact the market. Clearly, market uncertainty about how companies will be selling energy to end consumers and how the prices for end consumers will be structured in the upcoming periods could impact the behavior of energy companies on the contract at specific points in time. For instance, they may want to delay contracting until this regulatory package is decided, approved and published. So the impact will be on the timing of contracting rather than the total aggregate volumes in the market, given the current applicable rules, regulatory rules for the wholesale market and for energy companies.

[Unknown Executive]

Let's follow up on regulations. Bloomberg is asking about the idea of reinstating the 100% level of the obligation to trade on the exchange. .

[Piotr Zawistowski, executive]

This question should be asked of the regulator, not the exchange. The Energy Law is being redrafted in many areas, including, as you asked before, to protect consumers. Another area under consideration of energy law, including other acts relating, for instance, the renewable energy sources and other regulations, relate to new regulation for wind farms. The level of the obligation is under consideration, but as we've heard from the broadly understood regulator last December, this is related to the unpegging of prices or liberating prices for end consumers. This was postponed after December until later, until an undetermined future date because the protection was extended for consumers until mid-2024. And this is an interlinked regulatory package.

Will we see a 100% level once again or maybe lower. In the gas market, it's now 50%. That's another parameter that could be discussed. And this will depend on the implementation of energy market regulation in a broader context, including the protection of consumer prices. Thank you.

[Unknown Executive]

[ LDV Asset Management ] is asking. There's a big cash gap between the good conditions on the capital market. And the performance, the results of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. When is it likely to change?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

If you look at our results in the financial market, they are a good proxy for the growth in turnover on the exchange. If you look at the group's results, revenue from the commodity market is somewhat lower. But historically, if you look at the performance, there's a historical trend where revenue was closer correlated.

Regarding the financial results, profitability and cost. As before, our costs still include investments in new strategic initiatives, the impact of those on revenue is not yet there in Q1 the total cost of new initiatives was PLN 12.5 million. And as I've said, we are reviewing the strategic initiatives, and we will decide which of those directions to follow.

[Unknown Executive]

We have more questions from foreign analysts. Wood & Company are asking about the commodity market, which is looking less good in clearing and trading in certificates. What are your -- what is your expectation in the outlook? .

[Piotr Zawistowski, executive]

The certificates market, its outlook is well defined by law. Trading in certificates, especially green certificates implements the renewable energy sources support scheme, which was terminated a couple of years ago, and we follow. We continue to comply with all the obligations on the old scheme, but these will phase out as the investors' rights and the certificates expire. The Ministry of Climate drafts regulations, which set the obligation to redeem certificates now reduced to 5% and I think we will be looking into the demand and supply of certificates in the market, because, of course, those thresholds go up or down.

[Unknown Executive]

One more question from foreign listeners. I think this one goes to the CEO, Mr. Bardzilowski. When are you expecting a bigger number of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange? What has changed in Polish regulation in that regard?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

As we've said on several occasions, today we see record high indices high turnover, we are -- we also have quite a lot of SPOs as companies raise capital, which will become even easier when the new regulatory changes come into effect. We hope this will be effective in Poland by the end of the year, and that will allow companies to use the capital market even more extensively. And this good interest, strong interest will attract more companies to the Warsaw Stock Exchange. I'm certain that the unfavorable trend where more companies were delisted than floated will be stopped anytime now.

[Unknown Executive]

A question about the outlook. For the market from the association of individual investors. Could you elaborate on the development of the ETF offering, which you mentioned before in response to one of the questions from individual investors.

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Let me turn over to Izabela Olszewska. She is responsible for our product development, including ETFs.

[Izabela Olszewska, executive]

The ETF segment is very important to us. As I said during the presentation, we can see growing turnover and growing interest of investors in ETFs. We are looking at two ways to grow: One, the ETFs, which are listed on our main market. We have two issuers at this point in time. And I think we will be working to attract more products and more issuers. The other potential way to grow is to use the global connect market. We are considering whether and how to use this market to offer our investors, especially individual investors you've asked about, to offer them ETFs that are foreign funds, most popular and traded in international markets. So we will be working very hard on these two areas, and we expect to see an impact anytime soon with new products.

[Unknown Executive]

Another question from individual investors about the work on an update of the strategy. Have you decided yet about the future of GlobalConnect and the private market?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Well, as I've said, we haven't yet made any strategic decisions on those initiatives. When it comes to GlobalConnect, however, over to my colleague.

[Izabela Olszewska, executive]

Yes, regarding GlobalConnect. This market is growing less fast than we expected but the turnover is on an upward trajectory. And we have to take into consideration the conditions under which our introducing market maker is working. Any new stock listed brings with it a strong growth in turnover. We have plans and we see a lot of potential to grow with new stocks, European stocks in particular. When it comes to U.S. stocks, we have come across several obstacles we need to overcome. And as I've said, we can see a lot of potential for growth with ETFs. We are trying to understand the opportunities. And that's another direction to go with the GlobalConnect market.

[Unknown Executive]

Another question on GlobalConnect, which you are about to answer about so far? Another question about the Armenia Securities Exchange. What are your plans also relating to the GlobalConnect market. Why did you buy the Armenia Stock Securities Exchange? That's another question we've received.

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Regarding capital or equity investments and our business expansion, one of the ways to grow is to pursue horizontal growth with stock exchanges in and outside or beyond the region. We want to focus now on the Polish market. We see a lot of opportunities to grow in the market with our core business. When it comes to initiatives beyond organic growth, we want them to be close -- to stay close to the financial market and to create potential for synergies with our business as much as possible.

[Unknown Executive]

Another topic that's been raised at some other occasion at the previous meeting. A question about candidates for mergers and acquisitions, potential M&A targets in the Polish market; you mentioned that during the previous meeting, have you made up your mind yet?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Again, no comment when it comes to potential acquisition targets, but growth through M&As is and will remain part of our aspiration to grow.

[Unknown Executive]

Another question from individual investors. Your sales grew 5% year-on-year. Salaries grew 18%. All in all, investments in human resources were to drive revenue. But the investor is saying this has not materialized. What's next?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Well, we are trying to grow and expand and build up on our technology competencies we are working to develop the new trading system. And we hope we will not only have an efficient, one of the fastest trading systems that is a proprietary system, but we will also be able to offer technology services to others.

[Adam Mlodkowski, executive]

Speaking of the trading system, there's a question about what's -- could you elaborate and update on the new trading system. The rollout date at the turn of Q3 and Q4 next year. Is this -- does it stand?

[Tomasz Bardzilowski, executive]

Let me turn over to Adam Mlodkowski. Before that, let me say that we've recently published a new time line -- that is for details over to Adam.

[Adam Mlodkowski, executive]

Thank you. Let me go back to two other questions about AMX. If you look at the financial results of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Group in Q1, the AMX's result was PLN 1 million at EBITDA level with a margin of 20%, which is quite good; less good than last year, but still the company contributes and makes a positive contribution. And it's one of the most effective investments among the new investments we've made.

The increase in salaries and employee costs, as I said during my brief presentation, it's driven by a number of factors. So let me not reiterate. I only want to say that the total increase in operating expenses up by 9.5% was no different than the increase reported by our sister company, KDPW. Net of the KNF fee charge in Q1, maybe it should be distributed over time as our sister company does, then the results would be better. But as for the WATS system, we are working hard to bring this project to completion within the deadline recently communicated, as you asked.

We've reached the first important milestone. We have delivered and communicated to our members and stakeholders the full documentation of the project. The first version of the documentation was released on the 30th of April, according to schedule, it's available on the Warsaw Stock Exchange website. The next important milestone, which we have to reach very soon is to deliver the first version of the system for preproduction testing by the 30th of June. So it's 90 days -- there's 90 days left. If we get that, our team are fully determined to deliver the date you mentioned the turn of Q3 and Q4 2025 will be reconfirmed and then we can be more confident in rolling out the new trading system next year.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you very much. We have been determined to take all your questions fast and efficiently. And this concludes our Q&A. We have no further questions. If you have any questions to ask, please contact our Investor Relations or communications team. We will make best efforts to take all your questions, whether they come from investors, analysts or the media. Thank you very much for being with us today. Goodbye, and see you soon.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]