Virtu Financial Inc., in its first quarterly earnings report as a public company, said earnings rose 49% as it benefited from higher volumes and volatility during the first three months of the year.
Virtu Chief Executive Douglas Cifu said the high-speed trading company saw particularly strong performances in its global commodities and currencies businesses.
Mr. Cifu said on a conference call with analysts that the firm was "consistently profitable" during the quarter, including when the Swiss franc surged after Switzerland's central bank unexpectedly scrapped a cap on the franc's exchange rate against the euro. Many market participants lost significant amounts of money that day.
He called the quarter the "strongest in Virtu's history." The firm was founded in 2008.
Virtu, which began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market last month, is one of the world's largest high-frequency trading firms. It makes markets--meaning it simultaneously offers to buy and sell securities in the hope of capturing a tiny spread between those prices--on more than 200 exchanges and other private venues around the world.
Virtu's reliance on ultrafast telecommunications networks and computer algorithms to do its trading has sparked criticism in the past year from some market participants and observers who believe such firms have an unfair advantage over everyday investors.
Its initial public offering was seen as an important test of how global investors view the controversy around high-speed, computerized trading. The offering priced last month at $19 a share, and Virtu's stock closed Tuesday at $21.79.
For the quarter ended March 31, profit rose to $72.8 million from $48.9 million a year earlier.
Total revenue rose 28% to $221.5 million.
In its global currencies business, net trading income more than doubled to $42.2 million, excluding certain items. Adjusted net trading income grew 15.5% in its global commodities business and 78.3% in its Asia-Pacific equities business.
Mr. Cifu said Virtu couldn't expect the same volatility in future quarters. "The core strength of the firm is diversification" in asset classes, he said.
