OTC Markets Group Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results Delivering Revenue Growth

NEW YORK, March 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024.

"In 2024, we focused on the groundwork for projects that we will prioritize in the current year: OTC Overnight to support trading in OTC securities, and MOON ATS to support trading in exchange-listed, NMS securities,” said R. Cromwell Coulson, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Additionally, we began the work to launch a new market - the OTCID Basic Reporting Market. The expected July 1, 2025 launch of OTCID will provide a more detailed distinction between each of our markets, support companies that publish basic disclosure for investors, and clearly label securities that trade with limited to no involvement from the issuer. We believe this will increase opportunities for companies to provide ongoing information and improve the quality of our markets.”

"In 2024, our gross revenues exceeded $110 million for the first time in our history,” said Antonia Georgieva, Chief Financial Officer. "OTC Link benefited from increased trading activity on our markets, while Market Data Licensing produced steady-state results. Our Corporate Services business continued to experience a decline in revenue and subscriber counts. We remain focused on driving growth in users and usage of our products, retaining existing subscribers, and continuously enhancing our product offerings.”

Fourth Quarter 2024 compared to Fourth Quarter 2023

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights

• Gross revenues of $28.5 million, up 3% over the prior year quarter. Revenues less transaction-based expenses flat to the prior year quarter.
• OTC Link revenues up 33%. Transaction-based revenues from OTC Link ECN and OTC Link NQB up 56%, predominantly reflecting the benefit of higher trading volumes on these platforms. Additionally, revenue from OTC Link ATS messages increased 22% due to higher number of messages and fee increases. Further contributing to the overall increase in OTC Link revenues was an increase in certain connectivity revenue due to the introduction of additional fees in 2024.
• Market Data Licensing revenues were flat to the prior year quarter. Redistributor-based revenues decreased 4%, with professional user revenues declining 5%, and non-professional user revenues increasing 1% quarter over quarter. Market Data Licensing saw a lower number of professional users during the quarter, compared to the prior year quarter, reflected in a 3% decline in period-end number of professional users, while the addition of a new redistributor relationship at the end of the third quarter of 2024 gradually drove a 12% increase in the period-end number of non-professional users. Revenues from direct sold licenses increased 5% primarily due to growth in subscribers and corresponding revenue from broker-dealer enterprise licenses. Revenues from data and compliance solutions increased 4%, due to price increases for certain licenses and additional fees driving higher data services and Blue Sky data revenue, partially offset by lower EDGAR Online revenue due to subscriber cancellations.
• Corporate Services revenues were down 6% quarter over quarter, driven by a 4% decrease in revenues from each of our OTCQX and OTCQB markets, and a 6% decrease in revenues from the Disclosure & News Service^® ("DNS”), in each case due to a lower number of companies on our markets or subscribing to DNS, which more than offset the impact of the annual, incremental price increases effective at the beginning of 2024. Also contributing to the decline in Corporate Services revenues for the quarter was lower revenue from our Virtual Investor Conferences^® ("VIC”) product due to fewer events held and a lower number of participants per event.
• Operating expenses increased 1% over the prior year quarter. The increase was primarily driven by a 7% increase in compensation and benefits and a 16% increase in IT infrastructure and information services costs, partially offset by a 42% reduction in professional and consulting fees, as certain one-time costs in the prior year quarter did not recur.
• Operating income was flat to the prior year quarter at $8.8 million, while net income increased 3% to $7.2 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes non-cash stock-based compensation expense, increased 2% to $11.0 million, or $0.91 per adjusted diluted share.

Fiscal Year 2024 Results compared to Fiscal Year 2023