Wednesday 29 October 2008

MarketAxess Q3 Results

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) , the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for U.S. and European high-grade corporate bonds, emerging markets bonds and other types of fixed-income securities, today announced results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008.

Total revenues for the third quarter of 2008 increased 2.2% to $22.7 million, compared to $22.2 million for the third quarter of 2007. Pre-tax income for the third quarter of 2008 was $2.1 million, compared to $3.6 million for the third quarter of 2007, a decrease of 42.4%. Net income for the third quarter of 2008 totaled $1.5 million, or $0.04 per share on a diluted basis, compared to $2.4 million, or $0.7 per share on a diluted basis, for the third quarter of 2007.

For the third quarter of 2008, pre-tax margin was 9.3%, compared to 16.4% for the third quarter of 2007.

"Credit market turbulence reached new heights in the third quarter, increasing our focus on innovative solutions to restore secondary market liquidity," said Richard M. McVey, chairman and chief executive officer of MarketAxess. "Our first step was the addition of 21 new dealers to the platform during the past quarter to augment liquidity sources for institutional investors on the system. We are also developing technology and trading solutions to increase the breadth of potential counterparties available to all system participants. While short term results are likely to be uneven, our strong cash flow and balance sheet allow us to make essential investments to improve the functioning of the corporate bond and credit default swap markets."

Third Quarter Results
Total revenue for the third quarter of 2008 increased 2.2% to $22.7 million, compared to $22.2 million for the third quarter of 2007. Commission revenue totaled $17.2 million on total trading volume of $49.0 billion, compared to $19.0 million in commission revenue on total trading volume of $75.7 billion for the third quarter of 2007.

U.S. high-grade corporate bond commissions decreased 10.1% to $10.8 million on trading volume of $27.5 billion for the third quarter of 2008, compared to $12.0 million in commissions on trading volume of $39.9 billion for the third quarter of 2007. U.S. high-grade fixed-rate and floating-rate bond trading volume totaled $24.4 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, compared to $31.2 billion and $6.1 billion, respectively, in the third quarter of 2007. Total U.S. high-grade trading volume includes single-dealer inquiries of $1.4 billion and $2.6 billion for the third quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2007, respectively. Effective September 1, 2008, single-dealer inquiry trades are being reported within U.S. high-grade fixed-rate and floating-rate bond trading volume. U.S. high-grade trading volume as a percentage of FINRA's high-grade TRACE trading volume decreased to an estimated 6.4%, compared to an estimated 7.8% for the third quarter of 2007.

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