The head of TMX Group Ltd., which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, says the company is reaping the rewards of its diversification strategy amid a challenging business environment.
On Monday, the company reported first quarter revenue of $419.1 million, up 21 per cent from a year earlier, while adjusted diluted earnings per share in the quarter rose 26 per cent year-over-year.
That revenue and earnings growth comes amid an uncertain environment for capital-raising in Canada, TMX CEO John McKenzie told BNN Bloomberg in a Tuesday interview.
“This really is what’s been a long-time plan in TMX to broaden out the organization and broaden out beyond just being transaction-oriented and being more of a global organization serving both issuers and traders around the world,” he said.
“The capital-raising part of our operation has been challenged. We have not seen an IPO (initial public offering) on the senior market this year.”
Companies in Canada and elsewhere are weighing the impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade conflicts, and many have decided to shelve spending plans until a higher degree of certainty returns to global markets and economies.
But in the face of those challenging conditions, McKenzie said smaller companies have continued to go public on TMX’s junior market, and he noted that a record number of exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) have been brought on to the senior exchange in 2025.
“We’ve brought over 50 new ETFs to market right now this year, it’s actually been the highest level of new ETF issuance in the 10 to 15 years we’ve been doing it,” said McKenzie.
“As usual, the Canadian market is very innovative… we’re continuing to see this continuous innovation from our partners in the Canadian ecosystem and we’ve got a regulatory community that actually understands how to approve new products and bring them to market quickly.”
McKenzie said that globally, TMX saw “impressive growth” in its data operations business – an area of increasing focus for the company.
“Our energy market out of Europe has been very strong, our index operations out of the U.S. have been very strong, and our new marketplace that we’ve launched in New York has gotten up and running quickly,” he said.
“It’s really that testament to a diversified business model that’s much more resilient than we would have been five or 10 years ago.”
