Peter Frontini

SAO PAULO (Reuters – Brazilian stock market operator B3 said on Thursday that the fourth quarter recurring net profits grew by 6.0%. However, it was slightly less than analyst estimates.

Recurrent profit was 1.23 billion Reis ($244.05 Million), which is lower than the 1.27 billion market consensus.

While net revenue decreased by 4.2%, to 2.18 billion Brazilian reaiss, revenues from firm’s listed segments, which include equity instruments as well as equities, dropped 5.5%.

Due to the sharp increase in Brazilian interest rates and inflationary pressures during the third quarter of 2021, there was a decline in public offerings. There was only one initial public offer and two follow-ons.

The company stated that B3 still saw high volumes of trading on its platforms. It was also consistent with last year’s quarter. The daily average traded volume at the Sao Paulo stock Exchange was 31.53 trillion reais.

Recurrent earnings before interest and taxes of 1.65 Billion reais were posted by the company. EBITDA margin decreased 278 basis points, to 75.9%. The reason for this was B3’s strategy to reduce trading fees, as more Brazilians invest.

According to B3, Brazil saw an increase of 37.6% in the number individual investors between 2021 and 2021. This equated to almost 3.7 Million people.

($1 = 5.0400 reais)