CME profit beats on higher market data fees, lower taxes

(Reuters) - CME Group's quarterly profit beat analysts' estimates on Thursday, as the exchange operator benefited from a U.S. corporate tax cut and earned more from providing market data services to clients.

Revenue from the company's market data and information services business, which help investors make trading decisions and minimize risk, rose 14.2 percent to $110.7 million.

Like other exchange operators, CME has been increasingly trying to build its non-trading related businesses in a bid to reduce its dependence on market fluctuations.

The Chicago-based exchange operator's income tax provision halved to $150 million. U.S. companies have been reaping the benefits of a corporate tax cut enacted by the Donald Trump administration.

Net income rose to $411.8 million, or $1.21 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $308.6 million, or $0.91 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.45 per share, beating Refinitiv estimates of $1.43.

Clearing and transaction fee revenue fell 0.5 percent to $752.5 million and average daily volumes fell 0.8 percent.

(Reporting by Mary Ann Alapatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)