[R]1:00 PM New York - NYSE Euronext fourth quarter earnings jump 246% on firm volume across the board.[/R]

Earnings and Dividend Review

NYSE Euronext Inc. reported Tuesday fourth quarter net income leapt 246.7% to $156 million from $45 million a year earlier, as volume surged.

The company, the result of a merger between NYSE Group and Euronext NV in April last year, said listings rose sharply with 428 companies turning public in 2007. The listings earned the company $80 million last year.

NYSE Euronext said it reported “record transaction volume growth across virtually all of the company’s business lines in both Europe and the United States.”

On average, 2.6 billion shares were traded daily at the group’s stock exchanges in 2007. The company said it reached a record 5.8 billion shares traded on August 16, while average daily volume at NYSE and NYSE Arca rose 16%.

For the quarter, earnings rose 103.4% to 59 cents per share compared with 29 cents per share posted in the year ago quarter.

NYSE Euronext will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share.

Subtracting other one-item charges, NYSE Euronext net income in the fourth quarter was $175 million or 66 cents per share from $49 million or 47 cents per share posted same period in 2006.

For the full year, the company said income rose 214% to $643 million from $438 million previously. Earnings jumped similarly, rising to $2.70 from $1.36 per share a year ago.

The market was concerned NYSE Euronext had yet to realise the full-cost savings benefits from the merger. Company executives said, however, the plan was clear and these would be met.

“We are in the process of delivering the $100 million in revenue synergies and $275 million in cost savings we identified in connection with the NYSE-Euronext merger,” said group acting chief financial officer, Joost van der Does de Willebois.

Revenue Review

In the quarter, revenue doubled to $1.18 billion from $659 million a year earlier.

For the year, revenues, net of activity assessment fees rose 21% to $689 million.

Segment Review

In the year, volume at Liffe rose 30% to 940 million contracts while NYSE Arca grew solidly too, with contracts traded reaching 336 million, up 70.7%.

In December 2007, 16.8 million contracts were traded on NYSE Arca Options in the recently expanded SEC options penny pilot, with 11.6 million, or 69% traded electronically.

European cash markets saw volume rising to 322.6 million with average daily volume of 1.2 million shares, up 47% on prior year. US cash markets achieved daily trades of 2.6 billion shares.

NYSE Euronext said it added 428 new listings in 2008, including 140 in European markets. Non-US companies’ listings were at 42, the highest in seven years, with 20 companies from China.