Aquis Exchange Share Discussion Threads

[likeawalrus] 18/4/2024 12:26

I got tired of waiting so sold out in the 360s/370s, just at the wrong time. AQX is making progress but the real value will come when someone makes a play for the company, T/O could be circa £10 per share, perhaps even £12

[robsy2] 26/3/2024 06:50

Tech does look good. They have 7 paid clients now i think. If they get just 5% of the 350 targets then that is another huge leap forward. The profitability per employee just spirals with their business.

[maddox] 25/3/2024 21:00

Great summary Robsy,

They have a good mix of revenue but it looks like the Technology Sales has the prospect to transform this business. Markets is solid and they are working hard to build market share and Data looks to be very lucrative when the consolidated tape lands.

The pace of innovation at Aquis is impressive.

Regards Maddox

[robsy2] 23/3/2024 10:38

pretty good results considering the poor backdrop. I went to the presentation and took away the following;

All 4 divisions symbiotic, profitable and increasing profits during 2023.

Aquis markets struggling with headwinds, lower market volumes, sluggish member growth and some loss of members due to mergers. Aquis markets was 70% of the turnover (4m GBP a year) in 2018,in 2023 it was 48% with 11m GBP.
Rule changes have improved market share there from 4.5 to 5.5%. They aspire to be at 10-11% within the next 3-5 years and are pretty confident of getting there. Plausable explanations of the route .

AQSE running well though the IPO market was very challenged in 2023.Did more IPO¡s than the other growth markets .

Aquis tech doing really well with a lot of solid earnings coming down the line. They are winning contracts against the biggest players because the product is better and the price point for set up and running is keener and the tech is cutting edge and updated for free as they develop their offering and implement on Aquis exchange.

Data is also looking good - they seem pretty confident of a serious scale-up of earnings from the expected implementation of a consolidated tape along USA lines, estimated to start late 2026 onwards.

So , very positive imho .They have the team , the experience, ambition, cash and as they say the headwinds can and will change to tailwinds at some point.

They come over well.

The Outlook is very interesting.

They estimate that data earnings could double from where they are now by 2027, they could get 5-10% of the 350 stock markets around the world onto their tech stack and at Aquis Markets they see how they can grow market share to 10%, and Aquis stock exchange can also trade much better than it is now .

There are 3 big shots on goal there for over the next 3 - 5 years. No idea what that means in financial terms, it is all a bit speculative, but they say data could double to 7m from 2023 level,with consolidated tape and 5% market share, or double that again with market share at 10%.

Since they listed in 2018, they have increased turnover 500% , moved into solid and sustained profitability and are now on a forward PE of 16. This looks like a very reasonably priced stock considering the tantilasing opportunities they have within their reach, particularly with tech , data and Aquis markets. Aquis exchange is also fine and shows the world that they not only build exchanges but they can run them as well .

[robsy2] 13/3/2024 18:05

Feb market share 5.45% and a new win in Columbia. They are busy moving forwards unlike the sp!

[robsy2] 15/2/2024 18:22

Jan market share 5.4% , highest for a year.

[robsy2] 30/1/2024 17:25

Results pretty good. Market share up a bit but no lights being punched out, more progress on tech and data. Costs may be up a bit as well. We’ll see when the results are out.
The static share price and improving profits mean it is growing into its rating.

[likeawalrus] 29/11/2023 10:07

another encouraging RNS but it counts for nothing unless they significantly increase market share

[wjccghcc] 21/9/2023 10:38

I think it's the tech division licensing which seems to be recognised in H2 on renewals. So H1 tech revs 1.1mm vs FY 5.2mm. Makes the profit very H2 weighted. They say they're in line with PBT 5.5mm forecasts and PE of 19.

[pugugly] 21/9/2023 07:56

Interim results "Profit before tax up 64% to GBP1.1m" Looks expensive to me -v- market cap of £102Million.

Thoughts?

[pck76] 12/9/2023 19:59

Hi Maddox, it comes from the RNS this morning: Aquis Exchange PLC (AQX.L) announces that it intends to change the proprietary trading rule on its UK and EU trading platforms in its Aquis Markets division.The rule, which does not allow aggressive non-client proprietary trading, was introduced by Aquis in 2015 and has successfully reduced market impact and signalling risk. However, in response to member demand Aquis will change the rule to allow liquidity providers the option to choose if they wish to interact with aggressive non-client proprietary trading or not.This innovative modification is consistent with Aquis' commitment to provide members with the greatest choice and flexibility when transacting on the MTF platform.Implementation of this change will take place, subject to regulatory non-objection, in October 2023 to allow members and data providers to adapt to this change.

[maddox] 12/9/2023 17:17

Hi pck,

Perhaps you could paste a reference to that statement,

Regards Maddox

[pck76] 12/9/2023 16:51

"Aggressive non-proprietary trading" they mentioned they have eased the rules around this. Does anybody know how this stuff works?

[likeawalrus] 25/8/2023 14:48

very disappointing over the last year, I thought the share price would be close to £6 or £7 by now, I got this one badly wrong

[pck76] 18/8/2023 15:23

Thanks, good to know there are no major changes in market share. When I have time I'll double check their transaction numbers vs. overall transactions.

[robsy2] 18/8/2023 09:23

The monthly stats have been reinstated, see link above.

I can see that market share is holding steady at 5% , so no big breakthrough there and overall market trading volumes are down.

[robsy2] 08/8/2023 14:54

No news yet,still the RNS makes interesting reading. Seems like the two companies have a lot to offer each other. Maybe attacking the fund manager side of the market can drive more business to Aquis markets fixed- cost,lower cost offering?

[pck76] 02/8/2023 00:05

Your message is quite timely Robsy as I checked some data this afternoon and did notice the number of transactions has gone down since I had last checked (at some point in 2021). I found it strange as, to me, their pricing structure is so good, usage should only increase over time. I would be interested to know what IR tell you, please share when they respond..

[robsy2] 01/8/2023 08:01

Hi Maddox
Thanks for your replies by the way . I read them at the time with interest but failed to acknowledge them,apologies.
I am still sat tight here waiting for something to happen ....
I notice that since March 23 they have not issued any monthly stats re market share etc .
I have written to IR asking them what happened. Perhaps they don't read well and they have stopped posting them?

[maddox] 18/4/2023 16:27

Hiya Robsy,

My understanding of the monthly data reported is that it demonstrates that AQX has the venue providing 'best execution'.

When financial institutions (FIs) want to acquire or sell a stock - they will be buying or selling large tranches of shares. Their shareholdings are large and it thus takes time to complete. Other markets allow 'High Frequency Trading' (HFT) firms to front-run the FI's brokers - they detect the buying and selling - hover-up shares and sell them back - making a turn in the process. This causes the price to move against the FI. Without the parasitic HFTs acting in this way means AQX offers the FIs better prices - i.e. best execution.

However, in periods of high market volatility the HFTs dominate the trading activity - so AQX's market share falls as they don't have the HFTs.

Consolidated Tape: Yes, If EU/UK follow the US model - then AQX will do well. But don't hold your breath.

[robsy2] 18/4/2023 12:44

Forgot to mention data, which is cited as a possible game changer.The intro of the Consolidated Tape does appear to be in the offing. They feel they can get something from this in FY25. My understanding here is that since it is all very uncertain, they are not including anything extra in the forecasts,though they think it is definitely a case of when it happens ( whatever form it takes ) rather than if it happens and they do think if things pan-out here like they have in the USA, then they can expect the extra revenues to be very significant.
I like this piece of the puzzle a lot!

[robsy2] 18/4/2023 12:36

I see that they have filled out their offering to include Dark Market, closing auctions, auctions on demand etc. This is deemed to be important and a good thing,though I don't know enough about market making and how it shakes down financially to understand the significance of it all.
Having been inspired by Maynard Patons excellent intro to the company, trying to get my head around it all is an enjoyable WIP for me. I've seen the charismatic and highly enthusiastic CEO, Alisdair Haynes present a few times and really like the look of it all and have bought in.
One thing I don't get is the significance of the monthly stats they release on their website . Rising market share would seem to be a decent measure of their traction so to see it stalling of late doesn't look good?
The markets side is only 50% of the business now so maybe some slowdown here is not so important .
The Aquis exchange seems to be doing quite well compared to AIM though while I don't really know if I bought my AQS shares on Aquis or Aim the spread was brutal either way.Plus ca change?
The tech side of the business is growing well and also profitable, but here I lack understanding of the opportunities they allude to, especially regarding 24/7/365 trading and the provision of exchange grade markets tech to non-financial institutions so they can run things like procurement etc .
I don't understand what their competitive advantage is in this area or whether there is strong potential demand for what they are capable of providing.
More questions than answers I guess!!
Also happy to hear others thoughts.

[maddox] 14/4/2023 14:01

Hi Robsy,

True, although AQX have been filling-out with new propositions pretty quickly - Dark Market and Auctions, for example.

Nevertheless, your main point is well made. One would think that the HFT parasites in the other markets should be sufficient to drive AQX adoption. If I were running a fund I would be expecting my brokers to be seeking best execution - not providing a free lunch to the HFTs. I don't understand what the brokers get out of the status quo? Perhaps there is a lack of awareness amongst fund managers?

Happy to hear other's thoughts and insights on this.

[robsy2] 14/4/2023 09:20

The Aquis offering looks compelling,in as much as I can work it out, but what explains the slowness of uptake?
Maybe it is just what you say Maddox and maybe some users don't like some of the restrictions that the trading restrictions? other users may see that they need to be members of lots of exchanges to get full access to all the stocks they want to deal in so the AQuis offering doesn't cover their needs?