ICAP, the world's biggest inter-dealer broker, said on Thursday it expected annual underlying profit to be at the upper end of analysts' forecasts, with recent market volatility helping to boost trading volumes.
The voice and electronic broker, which offers services to interest rate, foreign exchange, energy and equities markets, said analysts forecasts for profit before tax, goodwill and one-off items for the year ended March 2008 ranged from 289 million pounds to 305 million pounds ($622.3 million).