Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Vasilios, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Athens Exchange Group conference call to present and discuss the first quarter 2024 financial results. All participants will be in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Nick Koskoletos, CFO, and Mr. Stelios Constantinou, Head of Investor Relations. Gentlemen, you may now proceed. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and good morning to those of you listening to us from the other side of the Atlantic. We would like to present the financial results of the group for the first quarter of 2024, which were published yesterday and are available on the IR section of our website, and then take any questions that you might have. I will now give the floor over to our CFO for some comments before we present our financial performance in more detail. Nick? Hi. Thank you, Stelios. Good afternoon, and good morning to all. So in the first quarter of 2024, just to highlight some data points, the average daily traded value increased by 33%, as you know, at to reaching EUR 148 million for the quarter, compared to EUR 113 million in the first quarter of last year. A couple of points on this particular item, though, that is important to underscore versus the underlying dynamics correlated to our revenue from trading. One is that we had fewer trading days in 2024, 61 days, versus the 63 days that we had in the first quarter of 2023. Out of the 148 million, if we were to do a daily attribution of the placement from the Piraeus Bank shares, that's close to EUR 25.5 million. That particular volume segment, effectively, given the fact that it was a privatization, it's priced at a 60% discount, and that fees on that were 0.5 basis point on each side. I think that's another particular important item to highlight. The average market cap stood 33% higher than the first quarter of last year. The market cap in the second quarter has exceeded EUR 100 billion, marking a milestone for the first time since 2008. Obviously with the different market constituents, but overall, volumes in the second quarter are holding up nicely. On the operating expenses, those were up 12% compared to a 9% increase for the full year of 2023. I think it's important here to note that three quarters of the increase is effectively attributed to the provision for variable compensation, and if you were to look at the underlying cost drivers, those are more muted at 4%, and we have there the impact of the wage adjustments from last year and the annualization of that, and the increase in the headcount, which we expect to stabilize at current levels. We need to stress that approximately a third of our employees are in IT, and the wage inflation in that particular segment basically outpaces that of the overall economy. So I'm sure you've seen in other IT companies that it's well in the double digits, and it's important for us to remain competitive as an employer. We continue our marketing efforts to promote the Greek capital market and broaden the investor base that has access to our listed companies. On June sixth, we will be organizing a midcap conference in Paris, and we have other events lined up later in the year, including our headline roadshows. I'll stop here, and let Stelios go through our performance in more detail, and we're happy to take any questions at the end of the call. Stelios? Thanks, Nick. So, let's start with the overview of our first quarter 2024 financial performance from the top. The consolidated turnover of the group in the first quarter of this year was EUR 13.5 million, compared to EUR 11.7 million in the first quarter of last year, up 16%. Revenue from trading represents 18% of total consolidated turnover, in the first quarter, it was up 5% at EUR 2.4 million compared to EUR 2.3 million. I would like to remind you, of course, that on January 1, a new pricing scheme went into effect in the cash market, replacing the 1.25 basis point flat rate. Today, we have trading bands, bundles, if you will, which were introduced with minimum guaranteed charges, which members have to pre-purchase each month. The fee is further differentiated, depending on the phase, i.e., whether trading takes place at the open and closing auctions or during continuous trading or at the close. And of course, the higher the band that a member selects, the lower the headline fee is. In the first quarter, this had an effect compared to the previous pricing policy of an approximately 5% discount, and you can see the specifics in our in the relevant decision listed there, or if you want more details, we'll be happy to help you out. Moving on, revenue from Post-trading made up 44% of total turnover and amounted to EUR 6 million-... compared to EUR 5.4 million in the first quarter of last year, up 10% on the back of higher trading activity in the cash market. As far now as revenue in the derivatives market is concerned, both trading and post-trading, in the first quarter of this year, trading activity measured by the average daily number of contracts, dropped by 20% to 43,000 contracts, compared to 53,800 last year. Revenue from derivatives was down 13.5%, with the average revenue per contract up 7.6% at EUR 0.236, compared to EUR 0.219 per contract. Our fees, as you know, for derivatives contracts, depend on the type of investor, the product being traded, and the prices of the underlying securities, and as a result, market volumes and our revenue do not always go hand in hand. We do, however, expect volumes to pick up during the year, especially following the tax changes, i.e., the abolition of the sales tax on OTC stock lending transactions. Lastly, on derivatives, trading and post-trading revenue in the first quarter of 2024 were EUR 630,000, compared to EUR 730,000 last year, corresponding to 7.6% of total trading and post-trading revenue. Revenue from listing makes up 12% of total turnover. This line includes the quarterly subscription fees paid by listed companies, fees on rights issues, IPOs, and other services to issuers, and amounted to EUR 1.6 million, up 26% compared to the first quarter of last year. Revenue from data services makes up 7% of total turnover, and includes the fees that we collect from data vendors for the provision of Athens Market data. The fees that we collect in turn from market data depend essentially on the number of data terminals to which the data vendor disseminate Athens Market data to, and in the first quarter, they were up 15%. Revenue from IT, digital and other services makes up 16% of total turnover, and includes revenue from digital services, infrastructure and technological solutions to the Energy Exchange Group, and Boursa Kuwait. This category also includes revenue from services such as electronic book building, AXIAline, AXIA e-Shareholder Meetings, colocation, and others. Revenue from IT and digital services was up 42% to EUR 2.2 million, compared to EUR 1.5 million last year. Finally, revenue from ancillary services makes up 2.4% of total turnover, and in the first quarter of this year, it was up 24%. Ancillary services include revenue from support services to the energy exchange, rents, and some others. Moving now to the expense side. Total operating expenses increased by 12% in the first quarter of this year at EUR 6.6 million, compared to EUR 5.9 million, and if we break that down, we see that personal costs were up 22% in the first quarter at EUR 4 million compared to EUR 3.3 million, while all other expenses were down so 0.8% at EUR 2.6 million. Personnel remuneration expenses account for 61% of total operating expenses, compared to 56% in the first quarter. Reminder, the proposed dividend for 2023, which will be brought to the annual GM on the 13th of June, is EUR 0.24. That's 60% higher compared to last year's, and that's of course in line with our bottom line performance. With this, I'd like to conclude our remarks, and we'll be, of course, happy with Nick to take any questions that you may have. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star, followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, then you may press star and two. Please use your handset when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question comes from the line of Andreas Souvleros with Eurobank Equities. Please go ahead. Hello, and congratulations for the set of, the results. However, other quick question, it's regarding, OpEx. There was a year-on-year growth of 11% in the first quarter. Should we expect this trend to continue throughout the year, or does the guidance of single-digit growth still holds? Yeah. Hi, Andrea. Thank you for the question. The guidance for the single digit growth holds for the underlying. On the other hand, you know, given the structure that we have with regards to the variable pay that's edging that number to double digits territory, I think that is a safe assumption. ...But I think it's important to realize that, you know, this variable compensation, it's effectively an embedded automatic stabilizer. Should things turn sour, you would expect a decline in our Operating Expenses as well. As you see that, you know, obviously there's an increase, the moderate increase that you see, there's obviously gonna be a decline as well. So the underlying dynamics stay as they are, but to the point that, you know, levels remain at, in terms of activity, levels remain where we are now, then yes, it might edge to the, you know, lower double digit figures. Okay, understood. I have one more question. It is regarding the development of new activities. We have seen that the EU emission trading system has already included the cover of CO2 emissions for large ships. Given that Greece is among the top shipping flags, are you planning to introduce the voluntary carbon market? And have you made any exercise in order to see the potential benefits from this product? So we are involved in a discussion with regards to voluntary carbon credit. I think last year, last year, we announced that we are collaborating with ACX, which is a global platform there. We are having discussions with the domestic ecosystem on that particular marketplace. The impact that you're mentioning, I think it's a little bit too early, but we are involved in the discussion, we are looking at it. And, you know, we have put a fair amount of resources into that particular initiative, but I think it's a bit too early to quantify any, you know, to quantify any impact with regards to our operation. But again, we are, I think, early on that initiative. We have the partnership with ACX, and we are constantly and continuously looking into the developments and being the pillar of voluntary carbon market here in Greece. Okay, thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Ismailou Eleni with Axia Ventures. Please go ahead. Hello, and congratulations for a very strong set of results. I've got a couple of questions from my side and one follow-up on OpEx that my colleague asked earlier. So this one would be, I mean, if you could give us your insight on what is the ideal cost income ratio in the other quarters for the group, given that both the profitability and the cost lines are increasing. The second question would be on the new pricing policy that came in effect in the first quarter. If you could help us understand the effect you expect it to have on the revenues, and which of the fee lines you anticipate that will benefit most, and whether there are any upside risks that we should have in mind. So this is question number two. And my third question is on the developed market status. Since we're approaching the month of June, during which, MSCI's review is done, I believe, if you anticipate the positive effects of this development to start showing, during the watchlist period or right after the official attainment of the DM status, and if you could talk a little bit more about the, the DM status acting as a key driver to higher market valuation, and there's, and sustainability? Thank you. Okay. I'll... Let's start with the on OpEx. I think effectively what the things that we are focusing on is to have, you know, to maintain the operating leverage that is embedded in our business model. So we, as revenues increase, we follow that, margins do expand. So in terms of cost to income, I would expect that to remain, you know, around the levels that it has been, that was in 2023 as well, so it would be below 60%. That's one element with that. And effectively, if market dynamics stay where they are, we might have, you know, go lower as well and not be at the higher 50s, but even go lower. That's one. Two, with our pricing scheme, the benefit is the fact that we offer our members a more structured approach to how they themselves engage in the market with a more appropriate pricing scheme for their own particular needs. So effectively, you know, there is a smaller effective trading fee, so the particular impact would be on the trading line, not on the post-trading. It would be on the trading line. But on the other hand, the fact that we have increasing volumes, I think, has also been facilitated by having a pricing scheme that caters to those that wish to engage more and therefore increase the velocity in the market, and that, actually, that has, you know, synergies across market participants. And the third question was with regards to DM? ... Yes, that's correct. You know, since we're approaching the month of June, I think that this is a month during which MSCI is doing its review. Yeah. If you anticipate the positive effects to start kicking in during the watch period or right after the attainment of the DM status? Okay. So, let me step back for a second here. One, I don't know what MSCI... We don't know what MSCI is gonna do. Our thesis is that, you know, have at least one out of the four major index providers, i.e., MSCI, FTSE, STOXX and Dow Jones, S&P, to be, to actually include us in the discussion for DM. That's one. Second, I think, the fact that we're engaging in operational improvements, that we have made operational improvements in order to be prepared for the DM status and to be, to qualify as a DM, because there's the operational readiness with regards to market accessibility, and then there's the market size. The market size, we cannot affect. The operational readiness, though, in terms of the improvements that we've had, I think that's something that the market has already taken notice of. The one particular item that I think will help our revenue stream is the abolishment of the tax on OTC lending that Stelios mentioned, and that is particularly important to our derivatives market, to have a more vibrant lending market, and then, as a result, having a more robust derivatives market. So I can't particularly speak on the MSCI, as I mentioned. Our overall target is to have at least one, and to the extent that we have made improvements, and we market these improvements to the markets and the participants of the market, I think that in itself improves overall accessibility and investor engagement. I see. And I don't know, like I can't speak about what impact they will have on market valuations or, you know, in the short term, medium term. You know, obviously, in DM, discount rates tend to be smaller just because of, you know, the market participants and the structure of the market. So I think we've made these improvements. But one thing that we should keep in mind is that, and I think, and I'll take this opportunity and say it, is that Greece is... There are more active investors in the DM world than there are in the EM. Active investors are the ones that are off benchmark, obviously, because they're active investors and tend to be more engaged into the market, thus producing more trading volumes. Because strategically, our interest and primary objective is to be a market where there's robust trading activity, that's the underlying rationale with regards to what it is that we're doing. Thank you, Nick and Stelios. This was most helpful. And again, congratulations for the results. Thank you. As a final reminder, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Petros Tsourtis with Optima Bank. Please go ahead. Hello, good afternoon. One question, if I may. Can you give us a call on your CapEx requirements for the full year? Okay. CapEx? Yeah, it's the truth is, in the first quarter, we have not executed much of our budget. It's more tilted towards the second quarter and towards the end of the year. Overall estimate for CapEx for the year is close to, we expect the figure to be close to EUR 6 million. So that's an increase compared to last year, and then we expect that number to gradually, over the next three years, trend towards depreciation. So, you know, we expect for the longer term, the run rate to be close to EUR 4 million. So this year there's a little bit of a spike, but still moderate. Like, we don't expect it to significantly impact our free cash generation capacity. Thank you very much. The next question comes from the line of Osman Memisoglu with Ambrosia Capital. Please go ahead. Hi, Nick and Stelios, thanks for your time. Just following on the pricing side of things, do you feel this is adequate, or are you planning further changes regarding pricing going forward? Thank you. On trading or in general pricing? Well, both. I mean, Okay. So- trading, but of course. No, trading, I think what we've done... What we've done on trading is the extent that we're willing to do right now, because by introducing these bundles again and differentiating auction versus continuous, I think we're solving for multiple market characteristics and overall improving the market microstructure. So that's one thing. Overall, on pricing, yes, we are continuously, and I think it's something that we've been doing over the last couple of years, especially with new management coming in, going through our portfolio of products and services and looking at our pricing schemes. Particularly in data, I think, and we've talked about this, and now we're seeing the first results, how the particular line is, you know, showing double-digit growth, and we expect that to continue and effectively exhibiting little, like zero elasticity for that matter, at least for the time being. And we have acknowledged that on particular things, we are much cheaper than we ought to be, and that was a very pronounced case with data feed, and that's why we're very quick on that. And overall, we are revisiting our product line with regards to pricing, and want to be a little bit more competitive on that, and where we can improve, and obviously, improve the product offering overall. But I do not expect, you know, the other particular lines to showcase, you know, high double-digit growth, in the medium term. But I think, you know, the growth that we've seen will kind of follow through for the next in the medium term because of these initiatives that we're undertaking right now. Thank you for that. So, coming back to trading, should we assume more or less a 5% impact for the full year? Well, a 5% impact on what? Because the other thing is that we have volumes increasing. Right. Right. Uh- On a similar- So- Obviously, if we were- Okay. But, yeah, for modeling purposes, for modeling purposes, I would say that would be the effective price, but it need, you need to be careful that it's on a segment of the trading. Because the trading line, per se, in the spot market, also has a revenue component that is related to the actual number of orders that enter the system, and that's still fixed. Mm. So it's a sub-segment of that shares trading revenue that is impacted at that, let's say, 5%. But again, you need to account for increasing volumes as well. So, you know, when you model, you need to be wary of that fact. Okay. When was it implemented? January first. January first. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for participating at this call, at this presentation of our results. We'll be always happy to speak with you in private if you have more detailed questions. Thanks again, and have a great afternoon. Bye-bye. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a good afternoon.