* Adjust pretax profit 157 million sterling vs 155.8 million forecast
* Revenue run rate down 5 percent in first 2 months of 2010
* Revenue for year 947.7 million vs 952 million forecast
(Adds details, analyst comment)
LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - British interdealer broker Tullett Prebon said staff defections hit 2009 revenue and continue to hurt as it rebuilds its teams, after it reported a small rise in pretax profit on Monday.
Adjusted pretax profit rose 1 percent to 157 million pounds ($238.2 million) for the 12 months to end-December, the company said.That exceeded the consensus forecast of 155.8 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The world's second-biggest interdealer broker cited "active management of our front office costs, the benefit of the actions taken at the end of 2008 to reduced fixed support costs, the investments made in increasing the scale and breadth of the business and strong management control."
Its shares were down 2 percent at 318 pence at 0830 GMT.
Analysts at Oriel Securities, with a buy recommendation on the shares, said there could be some profit-taking on the shares after a rally in the past month.
Tullett warned in November it could lose 7.5 percent in revenue after brokers defected to rival BGC. Between August and December, 77 North American brokers resigned, Tullett said.
"The net effect of the broker defections in North America has been to reduce revenue by 6 percent," Chief Executive Terry Smith said in a statement.
"The underlying revenue run rate in the first two months of the year is 5 percent lower than a year ago at constant exchange rates," he added.
The 5 percent drop shows no deterioration, the Oriel Securities note said.
"Tullett has benefited from the resurgence of voice broking and less complex products last year. It also cut costs (especially non-broker related) in the year ahead of a weaker H2 2009 following the exceptional H2 2008 post Lehman collapse."
MARKET ACTIVITY SUBSIDES
The company said overall market activity also slowed in the second half of 2009 and remains at a more normal level by comparison with the particularly volatile financial markets in late 2008 and early 2009 following the Lehman Brothers failure.
Volatility boosts trading volumes and drives growth in the interdealer broking business.
The market shifted away from more complex products to simpler products and towards cash instruments rather than derivatives, the broker said.
"The majority of our business, however, is in the more traditional 'flow' products of foreign exchange and interest rate swaps ... and in government bonds and corporate bonds."
Revenue rose a bare 0.4 percent to 947.7 million pounds and came below forecasts of 952 million.
Adjusted earnings per share at 49.2 pence beat estimates of 47.3 pence. A 3 percent gain year-on-year was due to a lower-than-expected effective tax rate, said analyst Mark Williamson, at KBC Peel Hunt, keeping a buy recommendation.
The results have met expectations, he said, adding that there could be scope to upgrade 2010 forecasts.
Tullett's North American revenue fell by 23 percent for the year. Yea-end broker headcount was down 14 percent at 468 from the year before due to the departures as well as the closure of some marginal desks, and revenue per broker was also down, Tullett said.
The company said it had hired new senior management and was continuing to pursue legal action against BGC after the defections. Smith said the benefits from an ongoing programme to hire new brokers would increase during the year as these brokers "build up to their full run rate of revenue". ($1=.6590 Pound) (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter and Erica Billingham)