Tullett Prebon boosted by sterling's fall after Brexit vote

By Noor Zainab Hussain

(Reuters) - British interdealer broker Tullett Prebon Plc (TLPR.L) on Friday reported higher third-quarter revenue, boosted by a fall in the pound and volatility brought on by Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Tullett, which is to buy ICAP Plc's (IAP.L) hybrid voice broking business to create the world's largest voice broker, said revenue rose 15 percent to 216 million pounds in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Tullett's shares were up 3.4 percent at 380.2 pence at 1034 GMT, taking them to the top of the FTSE Midcap Index (.FTMC).

The company, which earns about 60 percent of its revenue in dollars, said revenue rose 4 percent at constant currencies. The pound has fallen about 16 percent against the dollar (GBP=) since Britain's vote in June to leave the EU.

Revenue was also boosted by growth at Tullett's energy and commodities division and high-margin information sales business.

"Market activity has undoubtedly picked up and one of the things that obviously is a great driver for us would be the emergence of an interest rate curve and the heightened level of activity that you'd see on the back of that," Chief Executive John Phizackerley told Reuters.

This week, Britain's central bank said interest rates could now move up or down, scrapping a definite plan to cut them, while the U.S Federal Reserve on Wednesday set the stage for an interest rate hike in December.

Phizackerley said results from the United States, which holds its presidential election next week, had been "particularly encouraging".

"The elections have continued to have market impact in terms of (not only) exchange rates, but also other credit products and that has translated into better results," he said.

Tullett said it was working with over 30 regulators globally to secure approval for its acquisition of ICAP's voice brokerage business and it hoped the deal would close before the end of 2016.

Up until the beginning of October, Tullett had said it was confident that the deal was on track to close in 2016.

The company gave no update on its co-operation with the U.S. CFTC in its investigation into potential abuse in the $5 trillion-a-day FX market, except to say that currency options accounted for 3.5 percent of Tullett's revenue.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Sinead Cruise and Jane Merriman)