Brazilian financial exchange operator B3 (B3SA3.SA), posted on Thursday an 8.8% decrease in its fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier, as slower equities activity hit its revenue and its costs rose.
B3 reported a 915.5 million reais ($184.56 million) net profit for the quarter ended in December, while analysts polled by LSEG were expecting a profit of 1.12 billion reais.
Its quarterly net revenues fell 2.8% year-on-year to 2.24 billion reais, pressured especially in the equities segment.
B3 said even though Brazil's interest rate started to fall in 2023, it was still too high to allow equity trading to consistently recover.
The same period in the year before also saw high volatility, B3 said, in the run-up to Brazil's presidential elections.
B3's expenses rose 9.9% in the quarter to 1.07 billion reais, while its recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 10.3% to 1.46 billion reais.
