NZX Limited (NZSTY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to NZX's 2026 Interim Results Call. I'm Graham Law, NZX's acting Chief Executive, and I'm here with Amy Trotman, NZX's acting CFO. Amy and I will take you through the interim results. I'll lead off with the key elements of the interim results and the comments on NZX's strategy. Then Amy will then step us through the financials. After which, we'll be happy to take any questions. Before we start, please note the important notice on Slide 2 of the investor presentation, as that statement applies to all content and comments made by us during this call. Moving to Slide 4, where we summarize the 2026 interim result. In the first 6 months of 2026, NZX maintained momentum in creating long-term value across its diversified financial markets infrastructure businesses, demonstrating NZX's resilience through diversity of product offering as a market operator, fund manager and fund administration platform provider. The period again tested market confidence. Geopolitical tensions added to investor uncertainty and contributed to periods of market volatility. At the same time, New Zealand continued to face the effects of a slower economic cycle, cautious business investment and subdued equity market issuance. Notwithstanding the macroeconomic environment impacts, NZX has delivered a solid half year result. Operating earnings, excluding project and restructuring costs, were $27.3 million, an increase of 8.8%, resulting in net profit after tax being $9.8 million, up 18%, which equates to an earnings per share of $0.03 per share, up 17% and has allowed us to declare an