CME Group's 3Q Profit Up On Lower Costs

NEW YORK (AP) — Exchange operator CME Group Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter profit increased 20 percent as cost-cutting and a smaller tax provision offset a 4 percent decline in revenue.

But the derivatives, futures and options exchange operator said that if the New York Mercantile Exchange's results were fully included from last year, the parent company's profit would have fallen 20 percent.

CME Group, based in Chicago, acquired New York Mercantile Exchange in August of 2008, so its full quarterly results from the year-ago period were not completely reflected in CME Group's data from that period.

Its shares climbed $5.75, or 1.9 percent, to close at $313.77.

The company earned $202 million, or $3.04 per share in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $168.7 million, or $2.81 per share, during the same quarter last year.

Excluding $21 million in costs tied to an impairment charge on the company's investment in Imarex — a Norwegian-based freight and energy exchange and broker — and merger-related items, CME Group earned $223 million, or $3.35 per share in the third quarter.