Nasdaq Profit Rises on Strength Across Segments

Nasdaq Inc. said Wednesday that first-quarter profit rose as the company increased revenue across all of its segments.

Adjusted per-share earnings beat expectations.

Nasdaq has transformed from a U.S.-focused exchange operator to a global business-services company that includes markets in the U.S., Canada and the Nordic region, as well as investor, public relations, technology and data services. In the quarter it closed deals to buy Chi-X Canada, an alternative trading system for the Toronto Stock Exchange, and news release distributor Marketwired. The prices of both deals weren't disclosed.

For the quarter, Nasdaq reported a profit of $132 million, or 78 cents a share, up from $9 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier. The prior quarter was hit by a restructuring charge. Excluding restructuring- and acquisition-related charges and other items, per-share earnings were 91 cents.

Revenue increased to 5.3% to $534 million from a year prior. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 89 cents on revenue of $535 million.

For the latest quarter, market services revenue, which contributes 38% to the exchange's top line, increased 6.9% to $201 million on higher trading volumes. Exchanges benefit more from periods of heightened trading and volatility because the more people trade, the more fees they collect on transactions.

The company's information-services segment, which represents 25% of the top line, reported revenue increased 6.4% to $133 million, on higher revenue from index data and proprietary data, and from an acquisition.

The Marketwired acquisition and growth in surveillance product drove its technology solutions segment to increase revenue 3.1% to $134 million.

Despite a moribund market for initial public offerings in the quarter, Nasdaq said all 10 U.S. IPOs went to it. In the quarter, the market for initial public offerings is in its slowest period since the first quarter of 2009, both in terms of number of deals and total money raised, according to data provider Dealogic.

Listing services revenue increased 3.1% to $66 million.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2016 07:35 ET (11:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.