TSX Group Inc. earned $32.7 million, or 49¢ a share, in the three months ended March 31, the operator of the Toronto Stock Exechange reported Wednesday.

That was down 10% from a profit of $36.4 million, or 53¢ a share, in the same 2007 period, due to a canceled Canadian derivatives joint venture International Securities Exchange Holdings Inc.

Excluding this $15.2 million termination payment, earnings were 72¢ a share.

TSX, which also owns the junior TSX Venture Exchange, will close its acquisition of derivatives market operator Montreal Exchange today.

TSX Group and the Montreal Exchange are combining to create TMX Group, which will trade stocks, bonds, derivatives, energy contracts and eventually carbon emission contracts on various platforms.

Earlier on Wednesday, the pair said that 15.32 million TSX shares and a total of $428.2 million in cash would be paid to MXshareholders, for a purchase price of about $1.08 billion.

In the latest quarter, TSX Group revenue rose 11% to $112.4 million on increased issuer services and market data revenue, while trading revenue fell slightly, the company said. Expenses fell 4% to $45 million, in large part on lower compensation costs.

Michael Ptasznik, interim co-CEO and CFO of TSX Group, stated, “We are pleased to report positive results for the first quarter of 2008. Our efforts to diversify revenue and contain costs have enabled us to continue to deliver strong results in times of market uncertainty. We are most excited about closing our transaction with MX tomorrow. This will allow us to create TMX Group Inc., through which we can even better serve our customers and compete globally.”