Irish Stock Exchange profits fall more than €4m

The Irish Stock Exchange has revealed that it made profits from operating activities of €6.6m for the year ended December 31, 2008.

This shows a fall from €10.8m for 2007.

Revenues fell by 21% from €30.3m in 2007 to €24m in 2008.

Costs decreased by 11% from €19.6m in 2007 to €17.4m in 2008.

The decline in revenues was driven by the global downturn which resulted in reduced listings.

Investment losses of €22.1m for the year lead to pre-tax losses of €15.5m

Deirdre Somers, chief executive of the ISE, said: "Despite exceptionally difficult market conditions, the ISE delivered a solid operating performance and profitability in 2008.

"Investment losses reflect the generally poor performance of equity markets during 2008. While all financial markets continued to be volatile in the early part of 2009, we expect international structured product markets which are key to our financial performance to recover somewhat in the latter half of the year."