Piper Jaffray announces pre-tax profits

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Piper Jaffray announces pre-tax profits

Piper Jaffray Companies has announced its financial results for Q1 of this year.

The firm made pre-tax profits of $3.5m, but a post-tax loss of $2.7m.

However, this remains a significant improvement on the Q4 2008 net loss of $153m, made during a quarter which many banks found extremely difficult.

Net revenues from continuing operations reached $83.9m, up considerably from the $59.4m recorded in Q4 of last year.

Investment banking revenues were flat with Q4 2008 at $25.3m, and down 59% from Q1 2008.

Chairman and chief executive officer Andrew S. Duff responded to the results with some satisfaction, citing the firm’s cost reduction strategy as the reason behind the pre-tax profits.

However, he did warn that the global investment banking business remains in a challenging position.