Intercontinental Exchange Swings to 3Q Loss on Bakkt Investment

By Will Feuer

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. swung to a surprise loss in the third quarter after it took a non-cash charge on its stake in cryptocurrency platform Bakkt Holdings Inc.

The exchange operator and mortgage-data provider posted a net loss attributable to the company of $191 million, compared with a profit of $633 million in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, the loss came to 34 cents a share, compared with earnings of $1.12 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting earnings of 97 cents a share for the quarter.

The company attributed the results to losses at Bakkt, a cryptocurrency platform that went public about a year ago through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company. At the time of the merger, Intercontinental Exchange held a 68% economic interest in the company.

Intercontinental Exchange said last week that it would reduce the carrying value of its stake in Bakkt to about $400 million as of Sept. 30, down from $1.5 billion on June 30. Shares of Bakkt are down almost 77% this year.

Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings came to $1.31 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.27 a share.

Revenue rose to $2.39 billion from $2.28 billion. Revenue, excluding transaction-based expenses, rose to $1.81 billion from $1.80 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $1.80 billion, according to FactSet.

Write to Will Feuer at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 03, 2022 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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