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Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. Reports Record Revenues, Earnings For the Second Quarter of 2003, Spurred by Strength in Major Product Groups

Jul 22, 2003
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. Reports Record Revenues, Earnings For the Second Quarter of 2003, Spurred by Strength in Major Product Groups 26.9 KB
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. Reports Record Revenues, Earnings For the Second Quarter of 2003, Spurred by Strength in Major Product Groups

CHICAGO, July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME) today reported record revenues and earnings for the second quarter of 2003, spurred by strong trading volume in its three largest product categories: interest rates, equities and foreign exchange.

Net revenues increased 32 percent to a record $142.4 million for the second quarter of 2003, compared with $107.5 million for the year-earlier period. Net income rose 67 percent to a record $35.0 million, versus $21.0 million for the same period in 2002. Earnings per diluted share improved 45 percent to a record $1.03 from 71 cents per diluted share for the second quarter last year. This growth occurred on a base of shares that has increased by 3.7 million with the company's initial public offering in December 2002.

Average daily volume increased 23 percent to nearly 2.7 million contracts for the second quarter of 2003 versus the same period of 2002. Each of CME's trading venues set quarterly volume records. More than 1.5 million contracts a day were traded via open outcry, up 5 percent from the second quarter last year. Nearly 1.1 million contracts a day changed hands on CME's GLOBEX® electronic trading platform, a 63 percent increase from a year ago, and 41,000 contracts a day were privately negotiated, up 25 percent. During the second quarter of 2003, 41 percent of CME's volume traded on GLOBEX, compared with 31 percent during the same period a year ago. June 2003 was the second busiest month in CME's history for E-mini™ equity futures, which averaged more than 1.0 million contracts a day during the month.

"Our strong second quarter performance was driven by our diverse product line with substantial trading volume in our three largest product groups -- particularly interest rates -- where volume grew each month to culminate in a new record in June," said Chairman Terry Duffy. "We believe that one contributor to this growth has been a continuing shift in the global derivatives landscape as users are increasingly focused on credit quality and cognizant of the appeal of transparent, exchange-traded instruments with central counterparty clearing. Our interest rate volume also benefited from continued mortgage refinancing activity, which increasingly is hedged with our Eurodollar futures and options contracts -- as well as the quarter-point interest rate adjustment by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.

"This quarter, we will continue to aggressively prepare for the launch of the CME/CBOT® Common Clearing Link based on the definitive agreement we reached in April," said Duffy. "We are on track to begin clearing Chicago Board of Trade® commodity, equity and certain interest rate products on Nov. 24, 2003, with the remainder scheduled to begin on Jan. 2, 2004."

"We've focused significant resources on expanding our distribution, making it easier than ever before to trade on CME, no matter where you are in the world," said President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNulty. "In the past three years, we opened up access to GLOBEX, dramatically increased the speed of trading, established a telecommunications hub in Europe and increased the number of independent software vendors and data centers that offer GLOBEX interfaces. Since the beginning of this year, we've added 16 network connections to our European hub, for a total of 36; streamlined our foreign exchange delivery process to offer cost savings to market participants; and announced two new programs to expand telecommunications alternatives and reduce costs for users of GLOBEX, our CLEARING 21® system and our market data. We believe that broadening access and distribution has expanded both our customer base and trading volume."

For the second quarter of 2003, revenue from clearing and transaction fees increased 37 percent to $115.8 million from $84.3 million for the same period of 2002. Quotation data fees rose 14 percent to $13.6 million for the second quarter of 2003, versus $11.9 million for the same period a year ago, driven by a pricing change that took effect in April 2003.

Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2003 were $83.0 million, compared with $73.0 million for the second quarter of 2002. During the 2003 quarter, the company recorded stock-based compensation expense of $0.8 million. Based on a stock option and restricted stock grant in June, CME expects the stock-based compensation portion of compensation and benefits to increase to approximately $1.4 million per quarter in the third and fourth quarters of 2003.

Income before income taxes was $59.4 million for the second quarter of 2003, an increase of 72 percent from $34.5 million for the same period a year ago. The company's operating margin, defined as income before income taxes expressed as a percentage of net revenues, was 41.7 percent for the second quarter of 2003, compared with 32.1 percent for the year-earlier quarter.

CME's working capital was $381.6 million at June 30, 2003, compared with $325.6 million at Dec. 31, 2002, primarily due to the operating results during the first six months of 2003.

Capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs were $13.9 million for the second quarter. The company paid a quarterly dividend of 14 cents per common share, which totaled $4.6 million in June 2003.

Six-Month Results

For the first six months of 2003, net revenues increased 29 percent to a record $268.4 million from $208.6 million for the first half of 2002. Clearing and transaction fees improved 35 percent to $218.2 million from $162.2 million a year ago, benefiting from higher trading volume. Total operating expenses were $165.3 million for the first half of 2003, versus nearly $143.0 million for the comparable period of 2002. Income before income taxes was $103.1 million for the first half of 2003, up 57 percent from $65.7 million for the same period a year ago. The operating margin was 38.4 percent for the first six months of 2003, compared with 31.5 percent for the year-earlier period.

The company reported record net income of $61.1 million, or $1.81 per diluted share, for the first six months of this year, compared with $39.7 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, for the first half of 2002.

Capital expenditures and capitalized software development costs were $25.0 million for the first six months of 2003.

During the second quarter of 2003, certain shareholders sold 1,220,635 shares of Class A common stock at a price of $69.60 per share in an underwritten offering. The company did not sell any shares or receive any proceeds from the sale of stock by its shareholders in the offering.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on Dec. 6, 2002. The company was added to the Russell 1000® Index on July 1, 2003. It is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( www.cme.com ), the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and its GLOBEX electronic trading platform. CME offers futures contracts and options on futures contracts primarily in four areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2003 and managed $29.1 billion in collateral deposits at June 30, 2003.

CME will hold a conference call to discuss second quarter results at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time today. A live audio Webcast of the conference call will be available on the Investor Relations section of CME's Web site; those wishing to listen to the live conference via telephone should dial (800) 500-0177 if calling from within the United States or (719) 457-2679 if calling from outside the United States at least 10 minutes before the call begins. Following the conference call, an archived recording and PowerPoint slides will be available at the same site.

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. Among the factors that might affect our performance are: increasing competition by foreign and domestic competitors, including new entrants into our markets; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological developments; our ability to continue introducing competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis, including through our electronic trading capabilities; our ability to maintain the competitiveness of our existing products and services; our ability to efficiently and simultaneously operate both open outcry trading and electronic trade execution facilities; our ability to adjust our fixed costs and expenses if our revenues decline; changes in domestic and foreign regulations; changes in government policy, including interest rate policy; the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights and our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others; the ability of our joint venture, OneChicago, to obtain market acceptance of its products and achieve sufficient trading volume to operate profitably; and the continued availability of financial resources in the amounts and on the terms required to support our future business. In addition, our performance could be affected by our ability to realize the benefits or efficiencies we expect from our for-profit initiatives, such as fee increases, volume and member discounts and new access rules to our markets; our ability to recover market data fees that may be reduced or eliminated by the growth of electronic trading; changes in the level of trading activity, price levels and volatility in the derivatives markets and in underlying fixed income, equity, foreign exchange and commodities markets; economic, political and market conditions; our ability to accommodate increases in trading volume without failure or degradation of performance of our trading systems; our ability to manage the risks associated with our acquisition, investment and alliance strategy; industry and customer consolidation; decreases in member trading and clearing activity and seasonality of the futures business. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available in the Investor Information section of the CME Web site. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

GLOBEX is a registered trademark of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. E-mini is a trademark of CME. CLEARING 21 is a registered trademark of CME and New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. Russell 1000 and other trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks that are not proprietary to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. are the property of their respective owners, and are used herein under license. Further information about Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com .

 Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and Subsidiaries
                         Consolidated Balance Sheets
                            (dollars in thousands)
                                                 June 30, 2003 Dec. 31, 2002
    ASSETS
    Current Assets:
      Cash and cash equivalents                     $392,835       $339,260
      Proceeds from securities
       lending activities                          1,057,976        985,500
      Accounts receivable                             69,316         50,865
      Other current assets                             8,350         11,515
      Cash performance bonds
       and security deposits                       1,968,317      1,827,991
    Total Current Assets                           3,496,794      3,215,131
    Property, net of accumulated
     depreciation and amortization                   107,096        109,563
    Other assets                                      36,360         30,322
    TOTAL ASSETS                                  $3,640,250     $3,355,016

    LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
    Current Liabilities:
      Accounts payable                               $29,173        $27,607
      Payable under securities
       lending agreements                          1,057,976        985,500
      Other current liabilities                       59,692         48,396
      Cash performance bonds
       and security deposits                       1,968,317      1,827,991
    Total Current Liabilities                      3,115,158      2,889,494
    Long-term debt                                       648          2,328
    Other liabilities                                 19,411         17,055
    Total Liabilities                              3,135,217      2,908,877
    Shareholders' Equity                             505,033        446,139
    TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY    $3,640,250     $3,355,016

                          Balance Sheet Items Excluding
      Cash Performance Bonds and Security Deposits and Securities Lending(A)
                                                 June 30, 2003 Dec. 31, 2002
    Current assets                                  $470,501       $401,640
    Total assets                                     613,957        541,525
    Current liabilities                               88,865         76,003
    Total liabilities                                108,924         95,386

     (A)  Securities lending and cash performance bonds and securities
          deposits are excluded from this presentation, as there are current
          assets for these balances that have equal and offsetting current
          liabilities.  This presentation results in a more meaningful
          indication to investors of the assets owned and related obligations
          of the company.  Clearing firms are subject to performance bond
          requirements pursuant to the rules of the exchange.  The clearing
          firm can elect to satisfy these requirements in cash, which is
          reflected in the consolidated balance sheets, or by depositing
          securities, which are not reflected in the consolidated balance
          sheets.  The balance of cash performance bonds and security deposits
          that are deposited by clearing firms may change daily as a result of
          changes in the clearing firms' open positions and how clearing firms
          elect to satisfy their performance bond requirements.  Securities
          lending transactions utilize a portion of the securities that
          clearing firms have deposited to satisfy their proprietary
          performance bond requirements.


          Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and Subsidiaries
                      Consolidated Statements of Income
          (dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

                               Quarter Ended             Six Months Ended
                                  June 30,                   June 30,
                            2003           2002         2003          2002
    REVENUES
      Clearing &
       transaction fees   $115,808       $84,274     $218,207      $162,159
      Quotation data fees   13,570        11,925       25,369        24,390
      GLOBEX access fees     3,883         3,278        7,605         6,408
      Communication fees     2,412         2,506        4,828         4,911
      Investment income      2,164         1,304        3,310         2,921
      Securities lending
       interest income       2,029         6,275        4,886         9,789
      Other operating
       revenue               4,429         3,518        8,690         6,571
        TOTAL REVENUES     144,295       113,080      272,895       217,149
      Securities lending
       interest expense     (1,904)       (5,548)      (4,488)       (8,525)
        NET REVENUES       142,391       107,532      268,407       208,624

    EXPENSES
      Compensation &
       benefits             37,970        29,335       71,214        60,108
      Occupancy              6,294         5,308       12,575        11,089
      Professional fees,
       outside services
       & licenses            7,561         8,377       14,939        15,638
      Communications &
       computer & software
       maintenance          11,182        11,325       23,299        21,633
      Depreciation &
       amortization         13,321        12,337       26,532        23,151
      Marketing,
       advertising &
       public relations      1,534         1,354        7,136         2,917
      Other operating
       expense               5,159         5,007        9,588         8,436
        TOTAL EXPENSES      83,021        73,043      165,283       142,972

    Income before
     income taxes           59,370        34,489      103,124        65,652
    Income tax provision   (24,357)      (13,498)     (41,990)      (26,002)
        NET INCOME         $35,013       $20,991      $61,134       $39,650

    EARNINGS PER SHARE
    Basic                    $1.07         $0.73        $1.88         $1.38
    Diluted                  $1.03         $0.71        $1.81         $1.33

    Weighted average
     number of
     common shares:
        Basic(B)        32,624,015    28,800,423   32,579,249    28,787,562
        Diluted(B)      33,867,000    29,656,429   33,865,295    29,706,321

     (B)  In December 2002, CME Holdings issued approximately 3.7 million
          shares in its initial public offering.


               Average Daily Volume (Round Turns, in Thousands)
                          2Q           3Q        4Q           1Q          2Q
                         2002         2002      2002         2003        2003
    Interest rates      1,295       1,290       1,030       1,121      1,389
    Equity E-mini         598         812         848         958        936
    Equity
     standard-size        140         161         138         142        134
    Foreign exchange      102          93          93         127        137
    Commodities            32          28          29          35         34
      Subtotal          2,167       2,384       2,138       2,383      2,630
    TRAKRS                 --          31         122          18         46
      Total             2,167       2,415       2,260       2,401      2,676
    Open outcry         1,467       1,471       1,192       1,299      1,548
    Electronic
     (including TRAKRS)   667         915       1,036       1,063      1,087
    Privately
     negotiated            33          29          32          39         41
      Total             2,167       2,415       2,260       2,401      2,676

                         Transaction Fees (in Thousands)
                         2Q(C)       3Q          4Q          1Q         2Q(D)
                       2002         2002        2002        2003       2003
    Interest rates    $35,809     $38,314     $33,506     $33,763    $47,174
    Equity E-mini      25,946      37,018      37,639      41,607     39,692
    Equity
     standard-size      9,149      11,948      10,691      10,594     10,641
    Foreign exchange   11,606      10,320      11,322      14,502     16,235
    Commodities         1,764       1,650       1,766       1,920      2,034
      Subtotal         84,274      99,250      94,924     102,386    115,776
    TRAKRS                 --           5          58          13         32
      Total           $84,274     $99,255     $94,982    $102,399   $115,808
    Open outcry       $43,968     $49,032     $43,568     $43,986    $56,308
    Electronic
     (including
      TRAKRS)          32,760      43,489      43,322      48,936     49,245
    Privately
     negotiated         7,546       6,734       8,092       9,477     10,255
      Total           $84,274     $99,255     $94,982    $102,399   $115,808

                              Average Rate Per Trade
                         2Q(C)        3Q         4Q           1Q        2Q(D)
                        2002         2002       2002         2003       2003
    Interest rates      $0.43       $0.46       $0.51       $0.49      $0.54
    Equity E-mini        0.68        0.71        0.69        0.71       0.67
    Equity
     standard-size       1.02        1.16        1.21        1.22       1.26
    Foreign exchange     1.77        1.73        1.90        1.88       1.89
    Commodities          0.87        0.92        0.95        0.91       0.95
      Average
       excluding
       TRAKRS            0.61        0.65        0.69        0.70       0.70
    TRAKRS                 --       0.003       0.007       0.012      0.011
      Overall rate
       per trade        $0.61       $0.64       $0.66       $0.70      $0.69
    Open outcry         $0.47       $0.52       $0.57       $0.56      $0.58
    Electronic
     (including
      TRAKRS)            0.77        0.74        0.65        0.75       0.72
    Privately
     negotiated          3.62        3.64        3.90        3.96       4.00
      Overall rate
       per trade        $0.61       $0.64       $0.66       $0.70      $0.69

     (C)  Second quarter 2002 transaction fees reflect a $5 million reduction
          for a fund established for clearing firms related to a one-time
          adjustment.  This reduced the overall rate per trade by 3.6 cents
          from 64.4 cents to 60.8 cents, impacting all product groups.
     (D)  Second quarter 2003 transaction fees include a $2.5 million
          assessment to a clearing firm which primarily affected the rate per
          trade for interest rate contracts.  Without this assessment, the
          interest rate contract rate per trade would have been 51.2 cents,
          the assessment increased it 2.7 cents to 53.9 cents.  The overall
          rate per trade, excluding TRAKRS, would have been 68.4 cents, and
          was increased by 1.5 cents to 69.9 cents.  Transaction fee
          assessments occur in the regular course of business.

SOURCE Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.

/CONTACT: Media Contact, Ellen G. Resnick, +1-312-930-3435, or Maryellen
T. Thielen, +1-312-930-3467, or news@cme.com , or Investor Contact, John
Peschier, +1-312-930-8491, all of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc./
/Web site: http://www.cme.com /
(CME)

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