I have been following LAB for quite some time, and have occasionally commented on this fine company. They just released earnings, and indeed, it underscores why I was somewhat disappointed with NITE's 2Q performance. LAB has managed to QUADRUPLE profits this quarter compared to the same time period last year (true, due to acquisitions, but hey, NITE has bolstered their earnings w/ the Arb. acquisition, to be followed by more, I'm sure). Now, had NITE been able to do quadruple profits... Incidentally, I always wondered (and mentioned on this board), whether some kind of hookup of NITE and LAB might make sense...
biz.yahoo.com
"Monday July 24, 4:53 pm Eastern Time
LaBranche profits quadruple on rise in trading volume
NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - LaBranche & Co. Inc. (NYSE:LAB - news), a leading share dealer on the New York Stock Exchange, said Monday its second-quarter earnings more than quadrupled, beating Wall Street estimates, thanks to strong growth in trading volumes.
The company, which maintains markets in the shares of over 400 companies as a specialist firm on the stock exchange, finished the quarter relatively unscathed by the slouching stock market, which caused lower trading volumes across the industry. The reason was that the firm, which went public last year, acquired smaller rivals this year.
LaBranche posted net income of $20 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, compared with $4.7 million, or 32 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. The company's total revenues for the period were $87.6 million, a 57 percent increase over last year's $55.9 million.
Wall Street analysts on average had estimated diluted earnings per share of 40 cents, according to research firm First Call/Thomson Financial. LaBranche shares on Monday gained 1/8 to 18-11/16 on the New York Stock Exchange.
``It was primarily because of our acquisitions,'' said the firm's chief financial officer, Harvey Traison. He referred to Henderson Brothers and Webco Securities, two smaller share dealers bought by LaBranche in March.
The acquisitions helped LaBranche's trading volumes grow faster than the industry's as a whole. Some 61.8 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange in the quarter, up 22 percent from the year-earlier volume of 50.6 billion. LaBranche's second-quarter volume rose to 12.8 billion shares, up 83 percent from its second-quarter 1999 volume of roughly 7 billion.
During the second quarter, LaBranche also won the right to deal in several new stocks, including car parts maker Visteon Corp. (NYSE:VC - news) and wireless telephone company AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE - news).
LaBranche became a hot property in the quarter, following Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.'s (NYSE:MER - news) June 6 acquisition of Nasdaq share dealer Herzog Heine Geduld. The acquisition, coupled with other industry consolidation, spurred a rise in LaBranche stock to a record high of 19-1/2 last week, as investors bet on LaBranche's selling out to a bigger firm.
But LaBranche's Traison on Monday professed a desire to remain independent.
``We'll have no problem remaining independent in the short term,'' he said. He later defined 'short-term' as a 4-year period."
Morgan |
