WSE operator GPW assumes low single-digit growth in operating costs in next quarters

"We would like to see even higher revenue growth, but what we have control over is costs. We would like the levels of low single-digit cost growth to remain in the coming quarters," the CEO of GPW Tomasz Bardzilowski said.

"I hope that this will have an impact on improving profitability and thus on profit growth," he added.

In the third quarter of 2024 alone, the GPW group's operating costs rose by 3.9 percent year on year to PLN 77.5 million (EUR 17.9 mln). After nine months, operating costs reached PLN 251.8 million (EUR 58.2 mln), up by 6.8 percent year on year.

The cost/income ratio at the end of September was 69.1 percent, against 70.3 percent a year ago. The management's ambition is to gradually reduce this ratio.

CEO Bardzilowski announced that GPW will outline its cost aspirations in a strategy update due by the end of 2024.

"We note that the structure of our costs is somewhat different than it was a few years ago. We are dealing with an increase in personnel costs, we have increased our headcount very strongly, i.a. in the IT segment, which is related to the introduction of our own transaction system," the CEO said.

"We want to be a competitive employer, so we cannot promise that there will be significant reductions in the personnel costs segment. We expect that in order to be competitive, the increase in personnel costs will be in line with the overall wage increase in the economy," he added.

The CEO pointed out that on the other hand, the WSE's operator has seen opportunities for savings in categories such as third-party services.

"(...) now we have work ahead of us to make the company's processes more efficient and to benefit from various synergies between entities in the group," he added.

pr/ ao/ nl/