MALAYSIA EXCHANGE POSTS LOWER PRE-TAX PROFIT

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Exchange (Bursa Malaysia Bhd)
registered RM145.627 million (US$1=RM3.61) in lower pre-tax profit in the
financial year ended Dec 31, 2008 as compared to RM318.980 million in 2007.

Revenue eased to RM331.675 million from RM491.968 million previously, the
company said in its filing to Malaysia Exchange Wednesday.

In a separate statement, the local bourse operator reported a 35 per cent
decline in operating revenue to RM290.3 million from RM443.4 million
registered in the corresponding period last year.

This decline was primarily due to the sharp drop in trading activities
following the challenging economic and market conditions which significantly
affected business transactions.

Malaysia Exchange chief executive officer Yusli Mohamed Yusoff said
while the transactions have been sharply impacted by the persisting global
economic crisis, the exchange has managed to maintain a fairly strong balance
sheet.

"Given the extenuating circumstances of the global credit crunch and its
effect on nearly all markets, we are exercising prudent financial and
operational management measures across the organisation to mitigate the impact
of the current economic challenges and to manage shareholders' value," he said.

Despite the waning profit, Malaysia Exchange declared a final gross
dividend of 7.8 sen per share for the period under review, which would represent
a payout of 91 percent of its net profit.

The company posted a net profit of RM104.4 million compared to RM240.6
million.

Citing prolonging weak sentiments as contributing to lower trading
activities, Yusli said Malaysia Exchange could not achieve its headline Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) of velocity and growth of derivatives contracts
for 2008.

Velocity for the period under review dropped to 34 percent against the
56 percent target set earlier.

The daily average trading value for the equities market was lower at RM1.3
billion in 2008 compared to RM2.4 billion in 2007 while trading revenue for the
equities market slipped by 54 percent to RM136.8 million in 2008 against
RM296.5 million previously.

On market performance, Yusli said currently investors chose to remain on
the sidelines, not only in the local bourse but also elsewhere due to the
continued volatility.

"The uncertainties in the market will continue until there are clear signs
of economic stability from the United States and other developed markets," he
said.

The derivatives market recorded -1 percent growth for the total number of
derivatives contracts last year against the earlier set target of 50 percent
growth.

The total number of derivatives contracts traded dropped by one percent at
6.1 million contracts in 2008 versus 6.2 million contracts in the same period in
2007.

This contributed to the three percent marginal decline of the derivatives
trading revenue at RM43.6 million in 2008 from RM44.7 million in 2007.

Yusli also said there was sustained interest in the Malaysian crude palm oil
futures market as demonstrated by the higher volume of contracts year-on-year.

A total of three million CPO contracts were traded last year versus 2.8
million in 2007, he said.

During the period under review, there were 23 new initial public offerings
(IPOs) compared to 26 IPOs in 2007.

Yusli said the steady stream of ongoing listings in the local bourse
compared to others was a testament to Malaysian local bourse's comparable
valuation and attractiveness.

He said this indicated continued interest by prospective listed companies
to seek funding in the local stock market despite the current financial
meltdown.

-- BERNAMA