Record profit for Jefferies on recovery in equities markets
INVESTMENT banking revenues gave Jefferies its highest ever quarterly profits, the advisory business reported yesterday.
Pre-tax income came in at $182.3m (£109.9m) for the first quarter of its financial year, up 30.7 per cent on the same period of last year. Revenues increased 7.3 per cent on the year to $1.1bn, driven by investment banking revenues which soared 44.8 per cent to $414.3m and by commission revenues which rose 11 per cent to $162.1m.
However, some areas fell back – principle transactions revenues dropped 20.7 per cent to $249.3m.
Meanwhile costs increased 7.3 per cent per cent to $716.8m, with compensation costs up 7.1 per cent to $507.9m.
“Our results reflect another strong performance in investment banking, with revenues in excess of $400m for the second successive quarter, and a solid performance in both equities and fixed income,” said chief executive and chairman Richard Handler.
“Our investment banking business continued to benefit from strong equities and leveraged finance new issues markets.”