I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.HKEX reported record first-half profits of HK$10.57 billion, a 24% year-on-year increase, driven by surging IPO activity and stock turnover. Revenue rose 19% to HK$16.7 billion, beating analyst estimates. The exchange operator announced an interim dividend of HK$7.43 per share, up 24%. CEO Bonnie Chan highlighted exceptional performance despite macro uncertainties, noting strong demand for China's innovation economy.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) profit jumped to a record amid a boom in initial public offerings (IPOs) and sizzling stock market turnover in the second quarter, according to a stock exchange filing on Wednesday. Quarterly net profit for the operator of Asia’s third-largest stock market soared 21 per cent year on year to HK$5.38 billion (US$686 million), or HK$4.26 per share, higher than analysts’ estimate of HK$4.96 billion. It was the second consecutive quarter of record profit for HKEX, after it cleared a HK$5.19 billion profit in the first quarter. The exchange operator also reported that its first-half profit rose 24 per cent to a record of HK$10.57 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of HK$10.15 billion and surpassing last year’s record half-yearly earnings of HK$8.52 billion. Revenue and investment income in the first half rose 19 per cent to HK$16.7 billion. HKEX will pay an interim dividend of HK$7.43 per share, 24 per cent higher than HK$6 a year earlier. “HKEX delivered an exceptional first half of 2026, with revenue and profit both reaching new half-yearly records,” HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting said in the results announcement. “Looking ahead, despite persistent macro and geopolitical uncertainties, the long-term opportunity for HKEX and for Hong Kong remains compelling as global capital increasingly seeks access to China’s innovation economy and Asia’s growth prospects,” she added. Chan, whose contract was renewed until February 2030 on Tuesday, will host a media briefing in the afternoon. Shares in HKEX rose by 0.3 per cent to HK$406.4 at the noon trading break before the results announcement. They have lost 1.4 per cent this year, in line with the performance of the benchmark Hang Seng Index. The bourse operator’s revenue plus investment income in the second quarter jumped 18 per cent to a record HK$8.5 billion, beating the market estimate of HK$7.9 billion. The earnings growth was driven by higher income from trading and settlement fees, which shot up 18 per cent in the first half, compared with a year earlier. Average daily turnover rose 22 per cent to HK$290 billion in the second quarter and 18 per cent to HK$283 billion in the first half. Average daily turnover in the southbound channel of Stock Connect, the mechanism that allows mainland Chinese investors to buy Hong Kong stocks, grew 11 per cent to HK$123.1 billion in the first half, while the northbound channel recorded a 102 per cent jump to 345.3 billion yuan (US$51.2 billion), exchange data showed. Meanwhile, listing fees increased by 36 per cent in the first half to HK$590 million, the exchange said, as funds raised by Hong Kong IPOs soared 92 per cent in the first six months to HK$210.2 billion. However, Hong Kong fell behind Nasdaq in the IPO race following SpaceX’s blockbuster listing in June, according to data from LSEG Data & Analytics. HKEX booked a HK$1.08 billion gain from its investment portfolio of global stocks and bonds in the first half, 4 per cent higher than a year earlier. Average daily turnover of futures and options in the first half increased to 1.8 million contracts per day, up 6 per cent from a year earlier. The London Metal Exchange, wholly owned by HKEX, handled 844,000 lots of metal contracts per day during the first half, an increase of 18 per cent from a year earlier.