Change of the jubilee award and retirement and disability severance pay system
As of 2015, GPW discontinued its jubilee award system and reduced its retirement and disability severance pay system (the previous system paid a multiple of monthly remuneration depending on seniority; the current system pays an amount equal to single monthly remuneration). As a result, provisions for retirement and disability severance pay and provisions for jubilee awards were released, which reduced the costs of salaries by PLN 3.5 million in Q1 2015.
Reduction of GPW’s cost of capital market supervision in the coming years
The Act of 12 June 2015 amending the Capital Market Supervision Act and certain other Acts has largely extended the list of entities required to finance supervision (by adding, among others, banks, insurers, investment funds, public companies, brokerage houses and foreign investment firms) and changed the amount of contributions of entities. As a result, the cost paid by the GPW Group may be reduced significantly in 2016 and beyond compared to PLN 22.0 million in 2015. The Act was signed into law by the President of Poland on 31 July 2015 and promulgated in the Journal of Laws on 31 August 2015. A Regulation of the Minister of Finance effective as of 1 January 2016 determines among others the calculation method as well as the terms and conditions of the payment of fees by relevant entities. As of 1January 2016, GPW reduced trading fees on transactions in shares, rights to shares and ETFs in the part of the order value up to PLN 100 thousand from 0.033% to 0.029% in order to share the savings from the change of the structure of PFSA fees with active market participants. The reduction of the PFSA fee (approximately by half for the GPW Group compared to 2015) combined with the reduction of trading fees offered by GPW will result in corresponding decrease in both revenues and operational fees of the Group in 2016.
Cost of rent and maintenance fees
Rental contracts for NewConnect and Catalyst rooms and an archive space in the Centrum Giełdowe building were terminated at the end of May 2015, reducing the cost of rent and maintenance fees by ca. PLN 100 thousand per month as of June 2015.
GPW’s investment in Aquis Exchange Ltd
A new tranche of shares of GPW’s associate Aquis Exchange Limited took place without the participation of GPW in Q2 2015. As a result of the transaction, GPW’s share in economic and voting rights decreased from 30.00% to 26.33%. The issue increased the net assets of Aquis, and GPW recognised gains of PLN 2.8 million shown under financial income.
GPW’s investment in BondSpot
In February, April, May and August 2015, GPW concluded conditional agreements to acquire 402,444 shares of BondSpot for a total amount of PLN 1,711 thousand. The transactions were conditional on the approval of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for the acquisition of the BondSpot shares, which was granted in June and October 2015. As at 31 December 2015, the share of GPW in the share capital and in the total number of votes at the General Meeting of BondSpot was 96.98%.
GPW Foundation
On 17 June 2015, the Company together with PolPX and BondSpot established the GPW Foundation whose mission it is to pursue educational activities, including programmes supporting the development of financial and commodity markets, promotion of economic education, and charity initiatives. The GPW Group allocated PLN 675 thousand to the mission of the Foundation as its endowment.
Issue of series C bonds
On 6 October 2015, GPW issued 1,250,000 series C bearer bonds in a total nominal amount of PLN 125,000,000. The nominal amount and the issue price was PLN 100 per bond. The series C bonds bear interest at a fixed rate of 3.19% p.a. Interest on the bonds is paid semi-annually. The bonds are due for redemption on 6 October 2022 against the payment of the nominal value to the bond holders. The bonds have been introduced into the alternative trading system on Catalyst.
Buy-back of series A and B bonds
On 12 October 2015, GPW completed the purchase of its series A and B bonds from bond holders at a price of PLN 101.20 per bond. On 6-12 October 2015, GPW bought back 1,245,163 bonds for a total price of PLN 126,010,495.60. The early redemption of the series A and B bonds was paid for with cash raised by GPW through the issue of series C bonds.
Sale of the subsidiary Instytut Rynku Kapitałowego
On 8 July 2015, GPW executed a conditional agreement to sell 80.02% of shares of Instytut Rynku Kapitałowego – WSE Research S.A. (“IRK”) to Polska Agencja Prasowa S.A. (“PAP”) for PLN 509 thousand. The transaction was conditional on the approval of the General Meeting of PAP, which was granted on 28 September 2015. The final selling price adjusted for the change in the net asset value under the agreement was PLN 382 thousand.
GPW held 19.98% of shares of IRK as at 31 December 2015.
Sale of the subsidiary InfoEngine
GPW sold 100% of shares of the subsidiary InfoEngine S.A. to the subsidiary PolPX for PLN 1.5 million in Q3 2015.
Change of name of WSEInfoEngine S.A. to InfoEngine S.A.
On 9 November 2015, the General Meeting of WSEInfoEngine S.A. decided to change the name of the company to InfoEngine S.A. The change was registered in the National Court Register on 25 November 2015.
Extended VAT refund time limit in the PolPX Group
As of Q1 2015, following an amendment of VAT regulations, PolPX was no longer eligible for a shorter VAT refund time limit of 25 days. PolPX is now eligible for a 60-day VAT refund time limit. Consequently, depending on the structure of transactions with domestic or international counterparties, the balance sheet shows receivables or payables in respect of VAT settlements. An increase of receivables as at 31 December 2015 had a negative effect on cash flows from operating activities.