Piper Jaffray announces Q4 loss of $153m

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Piper Jaffray announces Q4 loss of $153m

Piper Jaffray Companies has announced a loss of $153m from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2008, equating to $9.76 per diluted share.

Almost the entire loss ($146.3m) was due to a number of significant items.

For the year as a whole the firm lost $183.5m.

The Q4 result is substantially down on the $6.5m profit made during the corresponding period in 2007, and showed a marked decline from the 2008 Q3 loss of $27.5m.

From the third to the fourth quarter 2008 revenue declined by almost a fifth (19%).

Andrew S. Duff, chairman and CEO, has stated that in Q4 for the firm took steps to reduce its exposure to risk and its structural operating costs.

Piper Jaffray is certainly not alone incurring a loss for the final quarter of last year, with much of the wider banking sector reporting losses.

Bank of America recently reported a Q4 loss of $1.79bn, with Dutch bank ING (on preliminary estimates) losing €3.3bn.