Nasdaq Profits Rise on OMX Merger

Nasdaq OMX Group(NDAQ Quote) solidly beat analyst bottom-line estimates on the now-combined companies' strong revenue and record volume.

Excluding merger-related charges, the Nasdaq and Swedish exchange operator OMX Nordic Exchange earned 54 cents a diluted share in the first quarter, compared to 33 cents a share for the prior year. Results also exclude a $26 million pre-tax gain on the investment in DIFX (Dubai International Financial Exchange). Analysts had been forecasting 49 cents per share according to Thomson Reuters.

The exchange operators delivered combined total revenues of $918.2 million for the quarter, a 29.5% jump over last year's $709 million and up 10.4% sequentially. Total equity volume matched trades soared to 153.7 billion shares in the quarter, which was 61.5% more than the 95.2 billion shares in 2007. However, fees associated with clearing transactions were reduced. Execution and trade reporting revenues dropped as a result of the lowered fees, coming in at $91.1 million, vs. $98.5 million for last year's quarter.

Nasdaq combined with the OMX Nordic Exchange in February. The company also has plans to launch a new pan-European market and has signed an agreement with Bombay Stock Exchange. It is continuing its global expansion with a signed contract with the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and NTT Data to provide an integrated trading and clearing system for commodity derivatives in Japan.

"We are a new company and our opportunities for growth have never been stronger,'' said CEO Bob Greifeld in a company statement. "The completion of our historic combination with OMX establishes NASDAQ OMX as the world's largest exchange company with operations on six continents and an undisputed leader in product innovation."