Lee Shavel, chief financial officer of Nasdaq, said the U.S. and Nordic exchange operator expects significant growth in its investor relations platform following the acquisition of some Thomson Reuters businesses.
Shavel presented at the 2015 Nasdaq Annual Investor Program in London yesterday. He stressed that three-quarters of group revenues were recurring fees from non-trading businesses.
He said: “There has been 4% to 5% organic growth in our non-transactional businesses between 2012 and 2015. This is before the contribution from Corporate Solutions post the acquisition of Thomson Reuters. We see a significant growth opportunity for IR Insight.”
Nasdaq completed the acquisition of Thomson Reuters investor relations, public relations and multimedia businesses in June 2013.
Bob Greifeld, chief executive of Nasdaq, said at the time: “The completion of this acquisition will expand our Corporate Solutions’ international footprint to roughly 10,000 clients in over 60 countries, while diversifying and expanding our recurring revenue base and delivering value to shareholders.”
Lee Shavel, Nasdaq
Corporate Solutions provides public and private companies with a portfolio of products and services that deliver critical market intelligence and communications solutions which help identify, target and communicate with stakeholders.
Shavel said Nasdaq had already achieved $35m in cost synergies from the Thomson Reuters acquisition.
In its third quarter results this year Nasdaq said Corporate Solutions’ revenue fell by $1m, or 1%, from the prior quarter.
Nasdaq said in the results statement: “We continue to progress through the late stages of the integration and customer transitions from the acquisition of the Thomson Reuters corporate business. We continue to see solid momentum in the business, particularly with the third consecutive quarter of net positive subscription sales of $3m, up from $2m in the prior quarter and $1m in the first quarter of 2015.”
In October Nasdaq reported record results for the third quarter of 2015. Third quarter net revenues were $529m, up 6% from $497 m in the prior year period.
Greifeld said in a statement: “I’m especially pleased that we were able to set this new, higher bar, while continuing to invest in attractive growth initiatives, like The Nasdaq Private Market, NFX, and IR Insight as well as returning a significant amount of capital to shareholders. Looking forward, the company is positioned to serve our customers across a wider spectrum of solutions than ever before, and we remain focused on executing against this expanded opportunity set to drive growth.”
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