Nasdaq Inc's first-quarter profit beat Wall Street estimates on Wednesday as increased market volatility boosted trading and helped mitigate a hit to the indexing business of the Transatlantic-exchange operator.
Trading volumes rose as investors rejigged their portfolios in response to slowdown worries due to a sharp rise in interest rates, persistently high inflation and the banking crisis.
Nasdaq's net trading services revenue rose 1% to $267 million, helped by strong growth in North America that offset the decline in European trading.
Revenue from Nasdaq's indexes, which are widely referenced by exchange-traded products and provide the company with licensing fees, fell 9.8% to $110 million.
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Excluding one-time items, Nasdaq earned 69 cents per share, beating analysts' average estimate of 66 cents, according to Refinitiv data.
The New York-based company had in the last quarter reorganized its corporate structure into three divisions — market platforms, capital access platforms and anti-financial crime.
Revenue from its anti-financial crime unit, that offers solutions to detect financial frauds, jumped to $84 million from $72 million a year earlier.
Nasdaq's main exchange hosted just 40 initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first quarter, compared with 70 a year ago as privately held companies put off their debuts amid increased market volatility and a surge in borrowing costs.
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The company's net revenue, excluding transaction-based expenses, rose 2% to $914 million.
