Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO), the target of a C$3.8 billion ($3.9 billion) hostile takeover bid, reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on lower costs and higher revenue from new listings and derivatives trading. However, second-quarter net income was down because of charges from a failed merger with the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) and a takeover bid from Maple Group, a consortium of Canadian financial firms and pension funds, TMX said on Friday. Excluding one-time items, TMX said earnings were 94 Canadian cents a share. Analysts on average had forecast 90 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. "Good results," said analyst Ed Ditmire of Macquarie Research in New York. "And probably importantly, under the notion that if TMX can make a lot more money than people thought it could as a stand-alone company, it'll help management if they wanted to present alternatives to the Maple offer."
TMX Group Inc. is an integrated, multi-asset class exchange group. Shares of X remained unchanged at $33.87. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $33.62 and as high as $64.03. On average, 8087130 shares of X exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 29826.
Source
