NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - MF Global Ltd., the world's largest broker of exchange-traded futures and options contracts, said profit fell 43 percent because of expenses and accounting for the company's restructuring last year, while revenue from derivatives trading climbed.

Net income for the fiscal third quarter ended December 31 dropped to $31.2 million, or 26 cents per share, from $55.4 million, or 53 cents per share, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said in a statement distributed by Business Wire on Friday. After accounting adjustments related to the IPO, the company said it earned 37 cents a share, three cents more than the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Trading at MF Global under CEO Kevin Davis, 46, rose as investors bought and sold futures contracts linked to interest rates and equity indexes as the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending measure to counter rising loan defaults and a slowing economy. Equity index and interest-rate contracts account for 60 percent of MF Global's net revenue.

"Volumes were good, better than expected, so MF should do well," Richard Repetto, an analyst with Sandler O'Neill & Co. in New York, said before the earnings were released. Mr. Repetto rates MF shares "buy."

MF Global, formerly the brokerage unit of Man Group plc., the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund manager, fell eight cents, or 0.3 percent, to $30 on Thursday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock is unchanged compared with the company's $2.92 billion initial public offering at $30 a share in July.