By Noor Zainab Hussain
(Reuters) - European exchange group Euronext reported a 42 jump in third-quarter core earnings thanks to sustained listing activity and strong turnover from cash trading.
Euronext, which operates exchanges in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, London and Lisbon, said its third-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 77.1 million euros (54.39 million pounds) from 54.1 million euros a year earlier.
Euronext, whose shares were up 5.3 percent at 0907 GMT on Thursday, said it expected full-year EBITDA margin at around 55 percent, up from the 45.8 percent it posted in 2014.
"We expected Euronext to exceed consensus expectations as evidenced by our higher-than-consensus forecasts, but the size of the beat is both surprising and pleasing and will lead to further consensus upgrades," RBC Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note.
The company said third-party revenue rose 18.4 percent to 133 million euros in the quarter.
Growth came from listings, where revenue was up 50.2 percent at 19.8 million euros, driven by continued vigour in the initial public offering (IPO) market, including deals such as Altice NV's acquisition of U.S. cable TV operator Cablevision Systems Corp (N:CVC) and large cross-border operations, including LafargeHolcim.
Euronext also got a boost from a 31.4 percent rise in cash-trading turnover to 49.6 million euros.
The slowing Chinese economy, speculation around the September U.S. interest rate decision, commodity collapse and political instability in Brazil as well as a potential default situation in Greece increased market volatility, Euronext said.
The French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) on Wednesday requested fines of at least 5 million euros ($5.44 million) on U.S. Virtu Financial Inc and 4 million euros on Euronext Paris in a high-frequency trading case, AFP reported.
Euronext Paris strongly contests having breached any AMF rules, or its own professional obligations, Euronext said.
The facts of this case relate to activity on NYSE Euronext markets by a previous version of the company and date back over six years, Euronext's interim CEO Jos Dijsselhof said in a media call.
NYSE Group Inc merged with Euronext in 2007 and in 2013 NYSE Euronext went on to be part of Intercontinental Exchange, which spun off Euronext last year. (http://reut.rs/1kv4o8o)
"The (potential) fine of 4 million euros is provisional and not the final amount. We will know the final outcome in about a month from now and on that basis and the fact that this is an ongoing matter, we will make no further comments on this subject," Dijsselhof said on the call.