MarketAxess shattered several volume and revenue records for the first quarter of the year due to market volatility brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The electronic trading platform for fixed income securities and the provider of market data and post-trade services for the global fixed-income markets saw total revenues of Q1 increased 36 percent to $169 million, compared to $124.5 million for the same period in 2019.
Operating income contributed significantly to this figure, having increased 44 percent to $91.1 million, year-over-year.
Net income totalled $74.8 million, or $1.96 per share on a diluted basis, compared to $52.5 million, or $1.39 per share for the first quarter of 2019.
All other revenue, which consists of information services, post trade services and other revenue, increased 11 percent to $13 million, compared to $11.7 million for the first quarter of 2019.
The increase in all other revenue was principally due to higher information services revenue of $1.3 million.
Discussing the Q1 results, Rick McVey, chairman and CEO of MarketAxess, says: "Our heartfelt thoughts go out to the millions of people around the world that have lost loved ones and had their lives turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The steep drop in economic activity in the first quarter had an immediate and substantial impact on global credit markets with sharp credit spread widening, especially in high-yield and emerging markets.
鈥淒uring this market disruption, credit trading volumes reached record levels in March, and electronic trading market share on MarketAxess increased.鈥�
MarketAxess says its operating margin was up to 53.9 percent, compared to 50.8 percent for the first quarter of 2019.
Moreover, volume on MarketAxess鈥� all-to-all corporate bond marketplace, Open Trading, also reached new highs in Q1, increasing 55 percent to hit $208.6 billion, compared to Q1 2019.
The firm saw record trading volume in US high-grade, US high-yield, emerging market, Eurobond, municipal and US treasury bonds.
鈥淥pen Trading liquidity was essential to the functioning of credit markets during the quarter, the indispensable role of electronic fixed-income trading networks was evident in the record number of client firms and individual traders that transacted on MarketAxess during the month of March," McVey adds.
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