Profits drop at NYSE Euronext

US stock trading fell 36 per cent and European futures trading dropped 20 per cent in the second quarter, overshadowed on both counts by heavy volumes from last year’s unprecedented May “flash crash” and the onset of Europe’s debt crisis.

The company said it earned $154m (£96.2m), down from $184m (£115m) a year ago.

Excluding one-time items such as costs associated with the blockbuster merger – which awaits approval from regulators – NYSE Euronext earned $160m (£100m), or 61 cents per share, down from $167m (£104.3m), or 64 cents.

Revenue rose one per cent to $661m (£413m).

Analysts credited a two percent slide in operating costs while a boost in listings revenue and IPOs helped to offset the trading slump.

NYSE Euronext’s shares trading in Paris were off 0.9 per cent at 22.75 euros.

UBS analyst Alex Kramm wrote in a note yesterday: “Despite the earnings upside on a stand-alone basis, we do not expect results to be a meaningful driver of the stock today, as investor focus remains on the pending merger between NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse.”

What could be a tricky European Commission monopoly review got under way in June and could last the rest of the year as regulators decide whether to allow the two markets to combine and to take a stranglehold on exchange-based European derivatives trading.