The Central Depository made a profit of 550,000 Euros, but it is considering relocating to a new headquarters

The Central Depository of Bucharest, one of the most important institutions of the domestic capital market, made a profit of 2.31 million lei (approximately 550,000 Euros), in the first semester of 2010, up 457% YOY, according to statements made by its officials.

The Central Depositary handles the payment and settlement of trades, while at the same time keeping records of the shareholders of all the companies listed on the Stock Exchange, as well as for those that aren"t listed, such as the Proprietatea Fund.

The importance of the institution turned its management positions into a major stake of the last General Shareholder Meeting of the BSE, when the shareholders of the BSE have appointed the nine candidates that would represent them in the coming elections for the Board of Directors of the Central Depository. The BSE holds 66% of the Central Depository. Other shareholders of the institution include several brokerage firms and the five financial investment companies (SIFs).

In the first six months of 2010, the Central Depository had revenues of 9.19 million lei, up 32% over the same period of last year and up 9% over the budget for the first semester of 2010, according to data provided by the institution. Out of the total revenues made in the first semester of 2010, income from operations performed for the holders of financial instruments amounted to 3.54 million, income from operations performed for issuers stood at 2.44 million lei and revenues from operations performed for participants amounted to 1.98 million lei.

At the same time, the institution cut its total expenses to 6.45 million lei, a 14% increase of the cuts budgeted in the beginning of the year.

Even though the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the Central Depository made rising profits in the first semester of 2010, a few months ago the Board of Directors of the BSE decided to "greenlight" a plan for the restructuring of the operations of the BSE Group, with a view to lower expenses. One of the measures included in the Reorganization Program concerns the relocation of the Central Depository to the same building as the other entities of the BSE Group, or the relocation of all the divisions of the group, including the Bucharest Stock Exchange itself to a new location. According to some sources, the administrators of the BSE have begun visiting several locations in this respect, without making any final decisions.

• The Central Depository had over nine million investors on record

According to information provided by its officials, at the end of June 2010, the Central Depository had a total of 9,382,478 holders of securities on record, including 9,377,296 residents and 5,182 non-residents. The number of non-residents has increased compared to last year"s similar period.

The value of the holdings, calculated based on prices of June 30, 2010, stood at 76.69 billion lei, up 16.7% over the same period of 2009. A percentage of 43% of the total volume belongs to non-resident investors, up 1% over the similar period of 2009.

As to what concerns non-resident investors, they mostly come from the following ten countries in terms of the size of their holdings: Austria (38%) and France (14%). Holland holds the third spot, (13%) of the total. The chart continues with Switzerland (8%), Cyprus (6%), United States of America (6%), Anglia (4%), Luxemburg (3%), Germany (1%), Czech Republic (1%). The other 96 states on the list, with an individual weight of less than 1%, account for 6% of the total number of foreign investors.

• The Central Depository has settled trades of 6.3 billion lei

The value of trades settled by the Central Depository in the first six months of 2010, amounted to almost 6.3 billion RON, up 134% over last year"s similar period, according to officials of the institution. First and foremost this increase came on the back of a substantial increase in the volume of state owned shares from 79.16 million lei (in the first six months of 2009) to 2.09 billion lei (in the first six months of 2010), and, second of all, due to the increase in volumes and prices of the financial instruments being traded.