Nasdaq profit beats expectations, helped by deals

Transatlantic exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group on Wednesday reported a higher third-quarter profit that beat analysts' expectations, helped by recent acquisitions and increased market data revenue.

Net income attributable to Nasdaq totaled $113 million, or 66 cents per share, up from $89 million, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier, when the company took one-time charges of 10 cents a share.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 62 cents a share in the latest quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 23 percent to $506 million, compared with expectations of $502.6 million.

In the second quarter, Nasdaq closed its $390 million acquisition of Thomson Reuters Corp's investor relations, public relations and multimedia services businesses. It also financed a $750 million deal to buy eSpeed, the electronic Treasuries-trading platform, from BGC Partners Inc , a deal that closed in late June.

The New York-based company said the acquisitions were ahead of plan and were adding to earnings.

Revenue at Nasdaq's technology solutions segment, which includes the new IR, PR, and multimedia businesses, rose to $131 million, up $58 million from a year earlier.

Information Services revenue rose to $118 million, up $19 million from a year earlier, with market data revenue contributing $100 million, up $16 million.

Operating expenses rose to $304 million from $242 million.

Nasdaq narrowed its core expense forecast for 2013 to a range of $1.075 billion to $1.090 billion, from $1.070 billion to $1.1 billion previously.

(Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)