May 9 (Reuters) - Canada's biggest stock exchange operator, TMX Group Ltd X.TO , posted first-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat Wall Street estimates, driven by strong performance of its global solutions, insights and analytics business.
Revenue for Toronto-based TMX rose 21 percent to C$207.2 million ($161.3 million), topping analysts' average estimate of C$200.98 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The results at the company, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, come as TMX deals with the fallout of a major outage that shut down its exchanges for more than two hours last month.
TMX shut down its stock exchanges for a part of April 27, a Friday, after a hardware glitch abruptly ended trading ahead of market close. Trading resumed the following Monday. the quarter, revenue in the global solutions, insights and analytics business rose 44.5 percent in the quarter to C$72.7 million.
Net income rose to C$63.1 million ($43.10 million), or C$1.13 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, from C$47.3 million, or 85 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. record results for the first quarter of 2018, highlighted by strong performance in capital formation, derivatives, and data and analytics, represent another chapter in our global growth story", said Lou Eccleston, chief executive officer of TMX.
On an adjusted basis, TMX earned C$1.33 per share, beating analysts' average estimate of C$1.30 per share.
The company beat revenue estimates for the first time in the last three quarters and beat on the EPS estimate for a fourth straight quarter.
TMX hiked its quarterly dividend by 16 percent to 58 cents per share.
Operating expenses rose 16.4 percent to C$111.5 million in the quarter, hurt by costs incurred due to the Trayport acquisition in December and higher severance costs related to organizational changes and the shutdown of its online payment platform for cattle buyers and sellers AgriClear. ($1 = 1.2849 Canadian dollars)