This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 1, 2016.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd (+ve)

SHARES of Bursa Malaysia (fundamental: 2.3/3; valuation: 1.1/3), the world’s largest palm oil futures trading hub with a niche in Shariah-compliant products, rose 1.2% to RM8.60 yesterday with 1.7 million shares done.

For FY2015, operating revenue increased 3.5% year-on-year to RM487.7 million on higher derivatives trading revenue, which helped offset softer securities trading revenue. Net profit, however, was flat at RM198.6 million, largely due to higher staff costs and other operating expenses.

Concurrently, the stock operator proposed a final dividend of 18 sen per share for shareholders’ approval at its forthcoming annual general meeting in March 2016. It expects the market outlook for 2016 to remain challenging, but that volatility in commodity prices and the FBM KLCI will spur trading activities in its derivatives market.

The stock currently trades at a trailing P/E of 22.9 times and 5.66 times book value. Dividends for 2015 totalled 34.5 sen per share, giving a 4% yield.