(Adds details from company statement, background)
Feb 11 (Reuters) - TMX Group Ltd X.TO , which owns and
operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, reported a fall in
fourth-quarter adjusted profit that missed analyst estimates, as
sustained low commodity prices hurt a large portion of its
resource-based issuers.
"Economic factors, particularly the prolonged slump in
commodity values, continued to weigh heavily on the performance
of the Canadian economy and on key elements of our market
ecosystem," Chief Executive Lou Eccleston said on Thursday.
The company reported a net loss attributable to shareholders
of C$159 million ($114.2 million), or C$2.92 per share, compared
with a profit of C$41.1 million, or 76 Canadian cents per share,
a year earlier.
Excluding impairment charges, TMX Group earned 87 Canadian
cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 93
Canadian cents a year earlier. Revenue fell 3 percent to C$177.1
million.
Analysts on average expected TMX to earn 88 Canadian cents a
share on revenue of C$177.05 million, according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company, which reclassified its revenue categories this
quarter, said revenue from capital formation fell to C$38.8
million from C$44.8 million a year earlier.
Capital formation includes revenue from listings on Toronto
Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and other issuer services.
The exchange operator had been seeking to diversify its
business after suffering from weak commodity prices alongside
its rump of resource-linked listings. It moved to expand its
offerings for the mutual fund industry in the quarter.
TMX also faces rising competition from aggressive new
competitor Aequitas Innovations' Neo exchange and Nasdaq's
acquisition of Chi-X Canada.
Up to Thursday's close of C$36.12, the stock has lost nearly
a quarter of its value on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the past
12 months.
($1 = 1.3924 Canadian dollars)