Bats Global Markets reports 50 percent profit surge ahead of merger

Bats Global Markets saw its profits jump 50 percent in the final months of 2016 as the Lenexa-based stock exchange operator approaches its $3.2 billion buyout by a Chicago company.

Profits reached $32.5 million, or 34 cents a share, during October, November and December, Bats Global said Thursday. A year ago, the company had earned $21.7 million, or 23 cents a share.

Net revenues, which subtracts the company’s costs of those revenues but not its operating expenses, reached $105.4 million in the quarter, up 6.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015.

Bats said in its announcement that it continues to wait for regulatory approval of its purchase by CBOE Holdings. The markets operators announced the deal in September, and Bats shareholders approved it in mid-January.

For all of 2016, Bats earned $109 million, a 33 percent increase from 2015, on net revenues of $436 million, which had climbed by 13 percent from a year earlier.

Bats operates the nation’s second largest stock exchange, behind the New York Stock Exchange and larger than Nasdaq. It also has operations in Europe, and runs options and currency markets.

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Bats Global Markets reports 50 percent profit surge ahead of merger."