TP ICAP shares fall on profit miss, embarks on Brexit plans

* Talking to more than three EU centres for Brexit hub

* FY underlying pretax 233 mln stg, misses estimates

* Stock hits low down more than 10 pct (Adds CEO comments, details, share movement)

By Noor Zainab Hussain

March 13 (Reuters) - TP ICAP missed full-year earnings forecasts on Tuesday, sending shares in world's largest interdealer broker down sharply, and said it was making progress in its plans for business after Britain exits the European Union.

Underlying pretax profit of 233 million pounds ($323.7 million) was up just £1 million in 2017 and well short of the 288.8 million expected by analysts, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data showed.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in TP ICAP, which brings together buyers and sellers in financial, energy and commodities markets, were down 5.8 percent at 508.2 pence at 1042 GMT.

Record (LSE: REC.L - news) low market volatility in 2017 has put interdealer brokers under pressure because there are fewer trades in more stable environments.

TP ICAP said it had seen a pick-up in volatility and interest rates so far in 2018.

"In periods of heightening volatility and rising interest rates and steepening yield curve, we would expect to benefit," Chief Executive John Phizackerley said.

The FTSE 250-listed firm, formed after Tullet Prebon bought now NEX Group's global hybrid voice broking unit in 2016, said its preparations for Brexit had been hampered by political uncertainty which persists in 2018.

"The challenge we face is we can't afford to wait... It's not going to be cost free, that's for sure," Phizackerley said.

The company has been in dialogue with more than three European centres for several months about setting up a subsidiary to service EU clients after Britain leaves the bloc, he said.

TP ICAP already has operations in Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and other locations in Europe.

($1 = 0.7197 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Sunil Nair and Dasha Afanasieva)