The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange reported a sharp jump in first-quarter results for 2026, helped by stronger activity across its business lines and a major boost in trading volumes following the move to a Monday-Friday trading week.
Revenue totaled 183.3 million shekels, about $63.2 million, in the quarter, up about 40% from the same period last year. The increase was driven by all areas of activity, led by clearinghouse services, where revenue rose 69%, and trading and clearing fees, which rose 44%.
Costs in the first quarter totaled about 84 million shekels, about $29 million, down roughly 1% from the corresponding quarter last year. Net financing income rose to about 2 million shekels, about $690,000, an increase of about 122%, due to higher deposit balances and lower interest expenses on a loan.
Net profit reached about 77.4 million shekels, about $26.7 million, up 116% from the first quarter of 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA totaled about 115.6 million shekels, about $39.9 million, an 87% increase from the same period last year. The adjusted EBITDA margin stood at about 63.1%. Adjusted profit for the quarter reached about 78.1 million shekels, about $26.9 million, up about 112%.
The exchange’s equity stood at about 585 million shekels, about $201.7 million, as of March 31, 2026. The decline from the end of 2025 was due to a dividend paid in the first quarter, offset by profit recognized during the period.
In March, the exchange paid shareholders a total dividend of about 144.8 million shekels, about $49.9 million, including about 54.3 million shekels, about $18.7 million, as a special dividend, with the remainder distributed under its dividend policy.
‘Friday trading boosted volumes’
Trading volumes on the exchange rose sharply in the first quarter.
Average daily trading volume in the equity market stood at about 5.6 billion shekels, about $1.93 billion, up about 92% from the corresponding quarter last year. In dual-listed shares, average turnover rose to about 1.17 billion shekels, about $403 million, an increase of about 81% compared with the 2025 average.
The move to trading from Monday through Friday also helped drive a significant increase in market activity. Average Friday trading volume in the first quarter stood at about 4.4 billion shekels, about $1.52 billion, up about 175% compared with average Sunday trading volume in 2025, which stood at about 1.6 billion shekels, about $552 million.
‘ETF flows and IPO activity rise’
During the first quarter, investors bought about 3.1 billion shekels, about $1.07 billion, in ETFs tracking local equity indices and about 1.8 billion shekels, about $621 million, in ETFs tracking local bond indices.
At the same time, investors sold about 5.3 billion shekels, about $1.83 billion, in ETFs tracking international equity indices.
Public holdings in foreign funds reached about 19.6 billion shekels, about $6.76 billion, by the end of the quarter, about 4.5 billion shekels, about $1.55 billion, higher than in the corresponding period last year.
Eight new companies completed initial public offerings on the exchange during the quarter, raising a total of about 1.9 billion shekels, about $655 million. That compares with five IPOs in the same quarter last year, which raised about 700 million shekels, about $241 million.
‘Government and corporate debt issuance’
The Finance Ministry raised about 46.6 billion shekels, about $16.07 billion, on the exchange in first-quarter government bond offerings. It also raised about $6 billion in international bond offerings.
In the corporate bond market, the business sector raised about 45 billion shekels, about $15.52 billion, during the quarter, up about 20% from the corresponding quarter last year.
‘A sign of resilience’
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange CEO Ittai Ben-Zeev said the quarterly results reflected the strength of Israel’s economy and its public companies.
"The results of the quarter first and foremost emphasize the resilience of the Israeli economy and the public companies operating in it," Ben-Zeev said.
He said the exchange is continuing to develop the local capital market according to international standards and in line with its strategic plan.
"The successful transition to trading on Monday-Friday creates new opportunities for the local capital market," he said, adding that public companies should use the shift to improve investor relations and publish reports in English alongside Hebrew in order to increase foreign investor involvement and strengthen Israel’s capital market globally.