John Thain, chief executive of NYSE Euronext, today said he planned to decrease the group's reliance on equity trading and instead expand its activity in the derivatives markets after revealing that profits doubled in the first quarter.

The group, created this month from the merger of the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext, said profits rose from $30.3m (€22.6m) to $67.6m as revenue derived from deals struck on the exchange leapt 53% to $262.9m.