OTC Markets Group, the constantly evolving financial marketplace framework used by some 10k OTC equity securities to connect with the market directly, continues to show strength as companies flock to the innovative technology offerings for increasing their visibility and dissolving investment barriers. By providing a transparent electronic platform whose main engine, the OTC Link® ATS (alternative trading system operated by OTCM wholly-owned subsidiary OTC Link, LLC), syncs broker-dealers and allows investors to find the very best price, all in an environment of clearly defined levels of disclosure, OTCM defines real-time situational awareness for the OTC space today.
With such a broad suite of technologies and data streams available, it’s no wonder that industry leading real-time analytical platform Bloomberg Professional® recently became the first major market provider to display OTCM’s Quote Access Payment (QAP®) information to subscribers of the company’s Level 2+ market data. The company launched the QAP service back in December of 2011 in response to prevailing FINRA regulations that allow broker-dealers to charge access fees on OTC equities products, once again showing how the OTCM platform is constantly adapting to changing demands from the market itself. Bloomberg subscribers with access to the Level 2+ quote montage can now have the same comprehensive view of access fees that is available to broker-dealers using the OTC Link ATS.
QAP is just one example of the portfolio of technologies deployed by OTCM across the roughly 10k OTC securities under their umbrella, but it represents a prime example of the kind of powerful interdealer and investor tools the company is known for. The OTCQX, OTCQB, and OTC Pink exchanges all benefit from powerful OTC Link ATS-driven information technologies like QAP, and the company even offers broker-dealers the choice of using their QAP One Statement factoring service (effectively purchases the QAP-related receivables for the subscriber, assuming the credit risk and collecting the payments owed by other subscribers), a veritable end-run on access fee handling in general.
Another influential industry player, global institutional trading network Liquidnet, which has made its reputation connecting top asset managers around the globe with large-scale equity trading opportunities (and is generally considered the global leader in large block trading, with an average trade size of around 50k shares in the U.S.), also recently took advantage of OTCM’s compelling financial marketplace information/technology offerings, with the move to offer the company’s Level 1+ real-time data, as Liquidnet grows its own equity trading services footprint to include more of the OTCQX and OTCQB space. Many institutional investors who already use Liquidnet to uncover liquidity plays in the OTCQX and OTCQB securities have since gained a fully optimized solution for accessing real-time pricing data in a highly efficient and cost-effective manner via this move by Liquidnet.
For OTCM it’s all about delivering hard to gather fundamentals on OTC securities to the markets and the company’s non-stop commitment to this ideal has also led to a tight-knit relationship with financial data, analytics, and disclosure management solutions powerhouse EDGAR® Online. The June 11 announced launch of EDGAR’s OTC Financials Data Service, an OTC market dataset designed to supercharge information dissemination for non-SEC disclosure companies, is another feather in OTCM’s cap and shows the extent to which the company is inextricably embedded in the industry landscape (the dataset will feed Yahoo! Finance quote pages for instance). EDGAR Online is pumping out the stream via their own I-Metrix Pro platform/web services, as well as other authorized data platforms and the OTC Financials Data Service should be an unmistakable hallmark of the company’s growth vector for investors interested in OTCM.
OTCM shareholders already know the company is insanely well-positioned as the thriving OTC space continues to evolve. Secure in the knowledge that as more and more companies emerge they will be looking to OTCM to fill the investor engagement, liquidity, and execution dynamics they need to grow and keep the business moving, OTCM shareholders remain confident, especially when the company keeps handing in returns like those shown for Q1 2012. The company was able to issue a quarterly dividend for the 14th quarter in a row amid an 11% increase in Gross Revenues and a 26% expansion of Operating Profit Margin. Along with pulling down diluted EPS of $0.12 (up 33% from 2011) on a 30% rise in Net Income (up to $1.3M), the company also managed to add an impressive 144 new companies to the OTCQX marketplace, with many more being added each week since.
OTCM has helped to create a new electronic order from the chaotic OTC space, in just a few short years after segmenting the market into three distinct tiers based on the level of disclosure and reporting method. It is clearly evident that today, the savvy long-term investors are increasingly drawn to those companies which make the effort to engage markets with the highest quality information/reportage, as well as who provide them with the kind of liquidity catalysts required to seal the deal. OTCM is there to make it happen for unlisted stocks, providing the kind of real-time situational awareness-driven environment investors want in order to make smarter trades, as well as the kind of rich information-based landscape companies need to engage those investors.
For more information on OTC Markets Group Inc., please visit the company’s website at: www.OTCMarkets.com
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