Holdings profit down 16 pct but beats Street view

CBOE Holdings Inc said Thursday that third-quarter earnings fell 16 percent as trading dropped.

CBOE Holdings Inc,which runs the biggest and oldest U.S. stock-options market,said Thursday that third-quarter earnings fell 16 percent as trading dropped,but higher per-contract fees helped it beat Wall Street expectations.

The operator of the Chicago Board Options Exchange reported a profit of $37.7 million,or 43 cents a share,excluding one-time tax items. That was down from $44.7 million,or 50 cents a share,a year earlier.

Analysts had on average had expected per share profit of 38 cents,according to I/B/E/S Thomson Reuters.

Trading was down 22 percent in the quarter from a year earlier,but revenue dropped at only half that pace,as CBOE boosted fees on its exclusive contracts,including options on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

CBOE also stole business from its competitors,grabbing 29.3 percent of the market in the third quarter,up from 27.5 percent in the prior year quarter,it reported.

Per-contract fees rose 1 percent.

The adjusted financial results excluded a tax benefit of $7.7 million in the third quarter of 2012 and a tax charge of $4.2 million a year earlier.