IN THE PRESS

Alasdair Haynes, chief executive of Aquis Exchange, said the subscription-based exchange group wants to become the growth market for Europe. This week Aquis Exchange started trading 36 of the largest Irish blue-chip stocks taking the number of markets within the subscription package to 14.

Haynes told Markets Media: "These are important stocks and shows the progress of our subscription model."

Aquis said that it had completed coverage of Western Europe. Haynes added that the exchange may add central and eastern European stocks if there if there is customer demand.

Aquis Exchange, the stock-trading venue founded by City veteran Alasdair Haynes, moved closer to profitability in the first half of 2019 ahead of its plan to start competing for company listings.

Revenues rose by more than 160% year on year to £3.4m over the period, helping Aquis to narrow its net losses from £3.2m to £621,000, according to a September 17 statement.

Revenues jumped 165 per cent to £3.4m in the 12 months to the end of June 2019.

The firm’s market share reached 4.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year, rising from 3.8 per cent in the final three months of 2018.

Losses on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) narrowed year-on-year from £1.6m to £0.16m.

Earlier this summer Aquis snapped up Nex Exchange for a nominal £1, in additional to roughly £2.7m to cover working capital levels, as part of a move to disrupt Europe’s IPO market.

LONDON (Reuters) - Turnover on Aquis Exchange Plc’s (AQX.L) new end-of-day auction has totaled some 208 million euro ($230.8 million) over the past week, a spokeswoman said, the latest sign that competition in the popular closing auctions in Europe is growing.

Deal marks a significant step forward for Alasdair Haynes' stock trading venue, which went public a year ago.

Aquis Exchange, the stock trading venue run by City veteran Alasdair Haynes, is moving into equity listings with the acquisition of a market for the UK’s smallest companies.

Aquis said on July 5 that it will pay around £2.7m to buy Nex Exchange, which has 89 companies listed with a total market capitalisation of almost £2bn, from CME Group.

Aquis Market Gateway launched in January 2018 now counts SIs including Jane Street, Citadel Securities and Tower Research Capital as users.

By John Brazier

Aquis Technologies, the technology arm of Aquis Exchange, has announced that it has recorded a substantial increase in the use of its systematic internaliser (SI) connectivity hub during the first part of 2019.

Aquis Exchange is preparing to offer EU27 stocks in both Paris and London on day one of a no-deal Brexit, a move that could see it steal a march on larger rivals that will initially move all trading in these shares to the bloc.

The UK’s stock markets are scrambling to prepare for the possibility of the country leaving the European Union without a deal on Friday. This could cause immediate disruption to the billions of euros of equities traded every day in the City.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority is expected to match a European Union share trading ban under a no-deal Brexit, the chief executive of Aquis Exchange said on Wednesday.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said last month that if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal, asset managers and other investors based in the EU would have to trade over 6,200 shares, including 14 listed in London, on platforms inside the bloc.

Revenues at Aquis double during its first year as a listed company, but losses widen.

Aquis, dubbed the Spotify of stock exchanges, doubled revenues in its first year as a listed company, but warned that Brexit will increase its costs as losses widened.

The exchange, founded in 2013 by Alasdair Haynes, former boss of ITG Europe and Chi-X, said revenues rose to £4m in 2018 from £2m the year before. Its share of pan-European equities continuous trading increased to 3.8% from 1.9% over the course of the year, according to a March 20 results statement.

The trading venue’s sales head will relocate to Paris to lead the MTF as CEO of newly-formed business, Aquis Exchange Europe.

By Hayley McDowell

Aquis Exchange has received approval from regulators in France to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF), as the UK continues to negotiate its exit from the European Union.