Climate Exchange swings to profit on higher volumes

A power generating wind turbine is reflected in solar panels near Mainz, March 10, 2010.

LONDON (Reuters) - Carbon emissions exchange operator Climate Exchange turned its first pretax profit, of 2.2 million pounds ($3.3 million) against a 2.5 million pounds loss in 2008, thanks to higher trading volumes. Climate Exchange owns and operates emissions trading marketplaces, including the European Climate Exchange (ECX), where annual volumes increased 82 percent to 5.1 billion metric tons.

It said average daily volume at its Chicago Climate Futures Exchange increased 183 percent to 5,406 contracts in 2009.

The company said that while 2010 had begun with modest improvements in European volumes, the U.S. market continued to lag compared to the first half of 2009.

Analysts were on average expecting the group to report a pretax profit of 2.6 million pounds, with estimates ranging from a loss of 0.8 million to profit of 6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Its shares, which have dropped 25 percent so far this year, closed on Thursday at 474.25 pence.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Victoria Bryan)