CME Group

CME Group Inc. Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2011 Financial Results

- Reached annual average daily volume records in foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals product lines

- Raised regular quarterly dividend to $2.23 per share, an increase of 59 percent, and declared an additional dividend of $3.00 per share

CHICAGO, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today reported full-year 2011 results, primarily driven by a 10 percent increase in overall average daily volume. During the year, the company posted annual average daily volume records across the foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy and metals product lines.

Reflecting CME Group’s strong cash flow, and consistent with our capital structure guiding principles, CME Group’s board of directors raised the first-quarter regular dividend 59 percent, to $2.23 per share, based on a change to our dividend policy, increasing our payout target from 35 percent to 50 percent of prior year’s cash earnings.

Furthermore, the company declared an additional, annual variable dividend, amounting to $3.00 per share in 2012. Going forward, this dividend will be considered in the first quarter of each year and will supplement the regular dividend. The amount of the annual variable dividend will be determined after the end of each year, and the level will increase or decrease from year to year based on operating results, potential M&A activity, and other forms of capital return including regular dividends and share buybacks during the prior year. Both dividends, totaling $5.23 per share, will be payable on March 26, 2012, to shareholders of record as of March 9, 2012.

Full-year 2011 revenues were $3.3 billion and operating income was $2.0 billion. Full-year net income attributable to CME Group was $1.8 billion and diluted earnings per share were $27.15. Fourth-quarter revenues were $736 million, which includes a $3 million negative impact related to MF Global’s bankruptcy, and operating income was $390 million. Fourth-quarter net income attributable to CME Group was $746 million and diluted earnings per share were $11.25.

Fourth-quarter 2011 results included a $528 million non-cash benefit from a tax adjustment primarily due to a revaluation of our deferred tax liabilities as a result of revisions to our state tax apportionment, and a negative impact of $30 million driven by activities related to MF Global’s bankruptcy. Excluding these items, fourth-quarter diluted EPS would have been $3.55 and full-year diluted EPS would have been $17.04.(1)

“Despite a very challenging environment, 2011 was another productive year for CME Group,” said CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy. “During the year we delivered the highest volume in our history, approaching 3.4 billion contracts traded. We have performed well navigating through uncertain events such as the Fed’s zero interest rate policy, the Eurozone crisis and the final rulemaking for Dodd-Frank. As market participants adjusted to these factors during the fourth quarter, 2012 has started out strong, with open interest up 11 percent to date.”

“CME Group’s 2011 results and accomplishments demonstrated the sustainable strength and balance of our broad-based business,” said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. “During the year, OTC clearing began to achieve some traction, we announced our proposed partnership with McGraw Hill, and we made steady progress with CME Clearing Europe. We also supplemented our non-transactional revenue by achieving significant customer commitments for co-location services. Overall, we continue to take decisive long-term strategic actions to expand our core business and continue to successfully advance our globalization strategy.”

“The increase in our regular dividend and the addition of the variable dividend confirm both our optimism about our ability to drive continued growth and strong cash flows, and also our strong commitment to returning capital to CME Group’s shareholders,” said Jamie Parisi, CME Chief Financial Officer. “We believe a strong and growing dividend, and significant dividend yield, will attract shareholders to what we believe is an exceptional business model that is not capital intensive and is highly cash-generative.”

Fourth-quarter 2011 average daily volume was 11.7 million contracts, down 2 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. Clearing and transaction fee revenues of $599 million were down 4 percent from $625 million in fourth-quarter 2010. Market data and information services revenue was $106 million, up 2 percent from $104 million in the same quarter last year.

Fourth-quarter total average rate per contract was 81.1 cents, in line with fourth-quarter 2010, and up 4 percent from third-quarter 2011. The sequential variance can be attributed primarily to a greater proportion of higher-priced commodity product volume to lower-priced financial products, relative to the third quarter of 2011.

Fourth-quarter 2011 operating expense was $346 million, including $27 million of expense related to MF Global’s bankruptcy. Fourth-quarter 2011 non-operating expense was $21 million, driven primarily by interest expense and borrowing costs of $29 million, offset by $10 million of investment income.

As of December 31, the company had $1.1 billion of cash and marketable securities and $2.1 billion of long-term debt.

CME Group will hold a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter 2011 results at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today. A live audio Webcast of the call will be available on the Investor Relations section of CME Group’s Web site at www.cmegroup.com. An archived recording will be available for up to two months after the call.

As the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the world’s leading central counterparty clearing providers, which offers clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort®. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives markets.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

CME Group to Develop New Gulf Coast Crude Oil Futures Contract at Enterprise Terminal

NEW YORK and CHICAGO, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it will work with oil market participants to discuss developing a new Gulf Coast crude oil futures contract at the ECHO Terminal, a storage facility being developed by Enterprise Products Partners L.P., to be listed on the NYMEX exchange. Connected to multiple facilities along the Houston Ship Channel, the ECHO Terminal is expected to begin service during the second quarter of 2012. The ECHO Terminal will be the destination of Enterprise’s Eagle Ford Crude pipeline, as well as the Seaway pipeline following the reversal project announced November 16, 2011 by Enbridge Inc. and Enterprise. Once the process of changing the flow direction has been completed, Seaway will transport crude from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Houston refining market. The Seaway pipeline will accommodate growing domestic crude oil production supplies from the Cushing hub and Canada.

“The recent announcement to reverse the Seaway pipeline represents a major development for the North American crude oil market, and will be an important logistical solution for the vital Cushing marketplace,” said Bryan Durkin, chief operating officer and managing director, products & services at CME Group. “We believe this new project will make the NYMEX Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) benchmark more accessible to global markets, bringing 150,000 barrels a day to the Gulf from Cushing by the second quarter of 2012 and approximately 400,000 barrels a day by 2013. This is a significant milestone, and we look forward to working with our oil industry customers to explore the development of a new physically-delivered crude oil futures contract at Enterprise’s ECHO terminal.”

Michael A. Creel, president and chief executive officer of Enterprise’s general partner, stated, “As part of our integrated network of midstream assets, the ECHO Terminal provides an important delivery point for domestic crude oil production from conventional areas, as well as the growing shale plays. We look forward to working with CME Group as it develops a new Gulf Coast crude oil contract that helps the global energy market manage risk more effectively.”

CME Group will consider developing a new contract with similar quality specifications as the current NYMEX WTI contract traded at Cushing to be listed on the NYMEX exchange. Other crude oil contracts could be added for physical delivery at ECHO as market demand warrants. Through the ECHO Terminal, shippers will have access to the major refineries in Texas City, Pasadena/Deer Park, Baytown and others along the Houston Ship Channel. Altogether, these facilities represent more than 2 million barrels per day of refining capacity. Engineering work is now under way for an extension of Seaway from the ECHO Terminal to Port Arthur, Texas, which features heavy crude oil refining capabilities.

About Enterprise Products Partners L.P.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. EPD’s assets include approximately: 50,000 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines; 192 million barrels of storage capacity for NGLs, refined products and crude oil; and 27 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity. Services include: natural gas transportation, gathering, processing and storage; NGL fractionation, transportation, storage, and import and export terminaling; crude oil and refined products storage, transportation and terminaling; offshore production platform; petrochemical transportation and storage; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems and in the Gulf of Mexico. For additional information about Enterprise please visit www.enterpriseproducts.com.

CME Group Volume Averaged 13.2 Million Contracts per Day in November 2011, Up 6 Percent from October 2011

CHICAGO, Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced November volume averaged 13.2 million contracts per day, up 6 percent from October 2011, but down 7 percent from November 2010. Average daily volume for November 2010, boosted by the completion of QE2, came in at 14.2 million contracts per day. November 2011 average daily volume was higher than 4 other months during 2011, and year-to-date volume is averaging 13.8 million contracts per day, up 12 percent from the same time period in 2010. Total volume for November was 276 million contracts, of which 83 percent was traded electronically.

In November 2011, CME Group interest rate volume averaged 5.8 million contracts per day, up 22 percent from October 2011, but down 16 percent compared with November 2010. Treasury futures volume averaged 2.8 million contracts per day, up 27 percent sequentially, but down 5 percent compared with same period a year ago. Treasury options volume averaged 304,000 contracts per day, up 5 percent sequentially, but down 31 percent from November 2010. Eurodollar futures volume averaged 1.9 million contracts per day, up 15 percent from October 2011, but down 29 percent compared with the prior November. Eurodollar options volume averaged 824,000 contracts per day, up 31 percent sequentially, but down 2 percent from November 2010. Additionally, the 3-Year Eurodollar Midcurve option contract averaged a monthly record of 145,000 contracts per day in November.

CME Group equity index volume averaged 3.2 million contracts per day, up 12 percent from November 2010. CME Group foreign exchange (FX) volume averaged 811,000 contracts per day, down 16 percent from the prior November, reflecting average daily notional value of $106 billion.

CME Group energy volume averaged 1.8 million contracts per day, up 13 percent compared with November 2010. CME Group agricultural commodities volume averaged 1.1 million contracts per day, up 3 percent sequentially, but down 12 percent compared with the prior November. CME Group metals volume averaged 373,000 contracts per day, up 23 percent sequentially, but down 25 percent compared with the same period last year.

Electronic volume averaged 11.0 million contracts per day in November 2011, up 4 percent sequentially, but down 7 percent from November 2010, while privately negotiated volume decreased 15 percent, to 224,000 contracts per day, from the prior November. Average daily volume cleared through CME ClearPort was 549,000 contracts in November 2011, up 36 percent compared with November 2010. Open outcry volume averaged 1.4 million contracts per day, down 17 percent versus the prior November.