FXCM's Stock Rallies After Better-than-expected Profit, Sales

Shares of FXCM Inc. rallied 6.5% in after-hours trade Thursday, after the foreign exchange brokerage reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, net earnings rose to $15.8 million, or 35 cents a share, from $3 million, or 8 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came in at 20 cents, above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of 17 cents. Total revenue rose to $134.7 million from $113.3 million, as retail trading revenue increased 13% to $93.8 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $129.3 million and $98.9 million, respectively. The company also said it has repaid $12 million of the $300 million financing it received from Leucadia National Corp. on Jan. 16, which was used to cover negative equity balances of $276 million generated by FXCM customers on Jan. 15 due to the extreme volatility in the Swiss franc. FXCM said it was in the process of disposing of non-core assets to further repay the debt.