CME Group's Quarterly Profit Rises -- Update

By Josh Beckerman 

CME Group Inc., which plans to close most of its futures trading pits, said Thursday that fourth-quarter earnings rose 59% as trading volume increased.

The company's profit was above Wall Street expectations.

The world's largest futures-market operator said "we saw a pickup in volatility that helped drive broad-based growth across all our major product offerings."

CME posted earnings of $306.5 million, or 91 cents a share, up from $193.1 million, or 58 cents a share, in the prior-year period. Excluding items, the company's per-share earnings were 95 cents.

Revenue rose to $841.1 million from $687 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 93 cents a share on revenue of $830 million.

CME announced on Wednesday it will close most of its futures trading pits in Chicago and New York as electronic trading has become the overwhelmingly dominant way futures contracts are bought and sold. The move is effective July 2.

"We saw significant growth in every product area during the fourth quarter, ranging from 14% in metals to 41% in interest rates," CME said Thursday.

CME said in January that it posted a 31% increase in trading volume during the fourth quarter, reflecting an average of about 14.8 million contracts a day.

In December, CME said its annual variable dividend would be $2, and on Wednesday it increased its regular quarterly payout to 50 cents from 47 cents.

In January, CME and GFI Group Inc. terminated their merger agreement after GFI shareholders rejected the buyout proposal.

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