Global Exchanges

Japan Exchange is a high conviction buy due to attractive valuations, potential for higher market activity. We also like Hong Kong Exchange and Deutsche Borse, while Coinbase remains a sell.

Deutsche Börse - An innovative markets infrastructure provider

Deutsche Börse, a German markets infrastructure provider, operates through four divisions: Trading & Clearing, Securities Services, Data & Analytics and Fund Services. Trading & Clearing handles regulated market securities including derivatives, commodities, cash equities and foreign exchange, as well as providing market data. Data & Analytics – through its Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Qontigo subsidiaries offers quality-focused ESG, data and analytics products alongside indices

New “Horizon 2026” strategy continues the current version

• Net revenue to increase on average by 10% annually • EBITDA increase of around 11% annually to approximately €3.8bn billion • Share buy-back programme of €300m beginning in Q1 24 • Dividend ratio at between 30% and 40% of net profit attributable to shareholders and an increasing DPS is planned

Good Q3 23 figures burdened by one-offs

• Net revenues increased by 9% to €1.19bn for Q3 23 compared to Q3 22 • EBITDA rose by 7% to €685m for Q3 23 compared to Q3 22 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 7% to €400m for Q3 23 • Deutsche Börse upgraded its 2023 targets for net revenues to around €5.0bn and EBITDA to around €2.9bn

Good Q2 23 figures pushed by interest income

• Net revenues increased by 20% to €1.22bn for Q2 23 compared to Q2 22 • EBITDA rose by 25% to €733m for Q2 23 compared to Q2 22 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 30% to €443m for Q2 23 • Deutsche Börse now expects to exceed targets for 2023

Good Q1 23 figures and the acquisition of SimCorp for €3.9bn announced

• Net revenues increased by 16% to €1.23bn for Q1 23 compared to Q1 22 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 12% to €473m in the same period • Deutsche Boerse slightly upgraded its FY23 targets to the upper end of the ranges for net revenues and EBITDA • Deutsche Boerse announced that it wants to acquire Danish SimCorp for up to €3.9bn

Good 2022 figures already achieve 2023 targets due to cyclical factors

• Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 24% to €1.5bn for 2022 compared to 2021 • Net revenues increased by 24% to €4.3bn for 2022, of which 14% came from cyclical growth • Proposed dividend per share is up from €3.20 for FY2021 to €3.60 for FY2022 • Deutsche Boerse upgraded its net revenue target to €4.5-4.7bn and reported EBITDA to go up to around €2.6-2.8bn for FY2023

Strong Q3 22 figures propelled by cyclical tailwind

• Net revenues increased by 30% to €1.09bn for Q3 22 compared to Q3 21 • EBITDA rose by 29% to €642m for Q3 22 compared to Q3 21 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 24% to €373m for Q3 22 • Deutsche Börse upgraded its 2022 targets for net revenues to more than €4.1bn and EBITDA to more than €2.3bn

Good Q2 22 figures

• Net revenues increased by 15% to €1.02bn for Q2 22 compared to Q2 21 • EBITDA rose by 13% to €585m for Q2 22 compared to Q2 21 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 10% to €478m for Q2 22 • CFO said that Deutsche Börse should significantly exceed the initial targets for 2022

Strong Q1 22 figures helped by higher market volatility

• Net revenues increased by 24% to €1.06bn for Q1 22 compared to Q1 21 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 33% to €421m in the same period • Deutsche Boerse slightly upgraded its FY22 targets from ‘around’ to ‘more than’ €3.5bn for net revenues and €2.2bn for reported EBITDA

Deutsche Börse - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on: • 2G Energy (2GB) • Apontis Pharma (APPH) • Artec technologies (A6T) • Beta Systems (BSSA) • Blue Cap (B7E) • Cyan (CYR) • Consus Real Estate (CC1) • Daldrup & Soehne (4DS) • DATAGROUP (D6H) • Datron (DAR) • Delignit (DLX) • Deutsche Börse (DB1) • Deutsche Grundstücksauktionen (DGR) • Deutsche Rohstoff (DR0) • DVS Technology (DIS) • Edel (EDL) • Ernst Russ (HXCK) • Exasol (EXL) • expert.ai (EXAI/EXSY) • Fashionette (FSNT) • Formycon (FYB)

Good 2021 figures in line with expectations

• Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 12% to €1.21bn for 2021. • DPS proposal is up from €3.00 for FY2020 to €3.20 for FY2021. • Deutsche Boerse targets net revenue to rise to around €3.8bn and reported EBITDA to go up to around €2.2bn for FY2022. • Confusing segment reporting policy

Deutsche Börse - Strong base for organic and M&A growth

Deutsche Börse (DB1) is a leading European capital markets infrastructure provider with activities across pre-trading, trading and clearing, and post-trade segments. Its diversity provides resilience to fluctuations in market activity and encompasses a range of faster growing areas that can fuel the secular growth element of its strategy. M&A is seen as an important potential source of additional capability and growth.

Good Q3 21 figures only slightly above consensus

• Net revenues increased by 18% to €838m for Q3 21 compared to Q3 20 • EBITDA rose by 25% to €500m for Q3 21 compared to Q3 20 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 32% to €300m for Q3 21 • Deutsche Börse confirmed its guidance of increasing net revenues to around €3.5bn and EBITDA to around €2.0bn for FY2021

Good Q2 21 figures

• Net revenues increased by 13% to €882m for Q2 21 compared to Q2 20 • EBITDA rose by 18% to €518m for Q2 21 compared to Q2 20 • Net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 21% to €311m for Q2 21 • Deutsche Börse confirmed its guidance of increasing net revenues to around €3.5bn and EBITDA to around €2.0bn for FY2021

Redde

Proposed share-for-share merger with Northgate

Lowland Investment Company - Is the tide turning?

Lowland Investment Company’s (LWI’s) unconstrained, multi-cap investment policy differentiates it from most peers in the AIC UK Equity Income sector. It offers investors broad market exposure, outside of the large, traditional ‘income stocks’ at a 13% discount to NAV. The underperformance of small- and mid-cap companies versus larger peers has slowed and a turnaround would be very positive for LWI. Portfolio returns are already benefiting from acquisition activity, spurred by low valuations, and

Foxtons Group (FOXT LN) - 1Q24 IMS shows real momentum

Foxtons Group plc first quarter revenue rose 9% to £35.7m (1Q23: £32.9m) with growth delivered across all business segments. Trading is in line with management's expectations.

PCI Pal - +25% FY23 revenue growth, FY24 growth of +28% reiterated

PCI Pal’s FY23 results show revenue growth of +25% to £14.9m, gross profit growth of +31% to £13.1m at a margin of 88%, and an outlook confirming robust momentum in H1 24. The FY23 results are as expected following the August trading update, and FY23 Total Annual Contract Value (TACV) is +23% yoy to £16.4m, with ARR +14% yoy to £12.6m due to £3.1m of contracts in deployment. We expect ARR will increase +35% and +31% to £17.0m and £22.2m in FY24 and FY25, as management lands and expands following

Tetragon Financial Group - FY23 growth driven by idiosyncratic factors

Tetragon Financial Group (Tetragon) posted a 6.4% net asset value (NAV) per share total return (TR) in US dollar terms in FY23. Tetragon’s returns normally have a low correlation with broader markets, and therefore its FY23 performance was below the 26.3% return of the S&P 500 Index, which rallied on the artificial intelligence (AI) theme. Tetragon’s FY23 return on equity (RoE) of 5.5% was below its target of 10–15% pa. That said, its performance since listing was within the target range at 11.3

Resilient FY24, confident long-term outlook

Vp’s full year update highlights sector-leading results, once again benefiting from the diversity of its end markets and the quality of its specialist businesses. With results expected to be broadly in line with expectations, we trim our FY24 PBT forecast by c.5% to £39.0m, a shade below the FY23 outturn (£40.2m). We consider this an impressively resilient performance set against a mixed market backdrop. Under new leadership, a strategic refresh is underway and management is confident in long

Zeus Top Picks for 2024 - 2023 review and outlook for 2024

On 9 January last year, we set out our ten top stock picks for 2023, for what turned out to be another relatively poor twelve months for UK equities due to two wars, stubbornly high inflation and further tightening of monetary policy. This was even as other major markets, such as the US, largely recovered in the year. In the 2023 calendar year, the AIM All-Share index fell 8.2% and is still 42% off its 2021 high. From the release of our 2023 top picks note, the average total return (assuming div

Vector Capital - Full year results illustrate challenging backdrop; dividend maintained

Vector Capital is an established commercial lending group, focused on secured short-term and bridging loans in the property sector. This morning, the group has reported full year results to 31 December 2023, illustrating the challenging market backdrop. While underlying trading was robust, with good demand being seen for new loans, provisions for bad debts relating to historical loans of £728k in the year led to a decrease in PBT to £2.1m (WHI est. £2.4m, FY22 £2.8m). Looking ahead, although VCA

Strong H1'23 results; forecasts upgraded