"The credit markets showed modest signs of improvement in the first quarter leading to a robust new issue calendar and an increase in overall US corporate bond secondary volumes," said Richard M. McVey, chairman and chief executive officer of MarketAxess. "Increased trading volumes combined with higher fee capture per million traded resulted in stronger revenue growth, improved margins and higher earnings. Contributing to the improvement were continued expense discipline and the initiatives we have taken to strengthen liquidity on our platform, including additional dealers, new Market List capabilities and our execution services desk. We remain focused on helping our clients use our trading network to gain access to liquidity in what continues to be challenging market conditions."

First Quarter Results

Total revenues for the first quarter of 2009 increased 7.4% to $24.6 million, compared to $22.9 million for the first quarter of 2008. Pre-tax income was $4.7 million, compared to $3.0 million for the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 59.6%. Pre-tax margin was 19.2%, compared to 12.9% for the first quarter of 2008. Net income totaled $2.8 million, or $0.08 per share on a diluted basis, compared to $1.6 million, or $0.5 per share on a diluted basis, for the first quarter of 2008.

Commission revenue for the first quarter of 2009 totaled $20.4 million on total trading volume of $60.1 billion, compared to $19.3 million in commission revenue on total trading volume of $64.5 billion for the first quarter of 2008. U.S. high-grade trading volume as a percentage of FINRA's high-grade TRACE trading volume decreased to an estimated 5.7%, compared to an estimated 7.3% for the first quarter of 2008.

Technology products and services revenue, which includes revenue for technology licenses, support and professional services, totaled $2.0 million for the first quarter of 2009, compared to $0.8 million for the first quarter of 2008, primarily due to the acquisition of Greenline Financial Technologies Inc. ("Greenline") in March 2008. Other revenue, which consists of information and user access fees, investment income and other revenue, decreased 24.8% to $2.2 million, compared to $2.9 million for the first quarter of 2008, primarily due to a decline in investment income as a result of lower interest rates.

Total expenses for the first quarter of 2009 decreased 0.4% to $19.9 million, compared to $20.0 million for the first quarter of 2008. Excluding the impact of the acquisition of Greenline in March 2008, total expenses decreased 8.8%. Employee compensation and benefits expense increased 3.8% to $11.4 million, compared to $11.0 million for the first quarter of 2008, due to increased stock compensation expense, higher cash incentive compensation expense and sales commissions related to the execution services business, partially offset by lower salary expense.

The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2009 was 40.0%, compared to 46.2% for the first quarter of 2008 and 38.5% for full year 2008.

Employee headcount as of March 31, 2009 was 198, compared to 202 as of March 31, 2008.

Balance Sheet Data

As of March 31, 2009, total assets were $243.2 million and included $137.4 million in cash, cash equivalents and securities, and a deferred tax asset of $34.2 million. Total stockholders' equity, including the Series B preferred stock, as of March 31, 2009 was $229.2 million.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Richard M. McVey, MarketAxess' chairman and chief executive officer, T. Kelley Millet, president, and James N.B. Rucker, chief financial officer, will host a conference call to discuss the Company's financial results and outlook this morning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. To access the conference call, please dial 800-659-2032 (U.S.) or 617-614-2712 (international). The passcode for all callers is 34280926. The Company will also host a live audio webcast of the conference call on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at http://www.marketaxess.com/. An archive of the call will be available by dialing 888-286-8010 (U.S.) or 617-801-6888 (international) for one week after the announcement. The passcode for replay callers is 48079785. The web cast will also be archived at http://www.marketaxess.com/ for 90 days following the announcement.

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess operates one of the leading platforms for the electronic trading of corporate bonds and certain other types of fixed-income securities, serving as an electronic platform through which our approximately 650 active institutional investor clients can access the liquidity provided by our 48 broker-dealer clients.