Lazard reports quarterly and biannual results

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Lazard reports quarterly and biannual results

Lazard Ltd has released its financial performance results for the second quarter and first half of 2010.

In Q2 the firm saw its fully exchanged net income increase by 23% to $53m, equivalent to $0.39 per diluted share, up from $43.1m ($0.34 per diluted share) in the same quarter last year.

This is, however, down on Q1 2010 net income of $61.4m ($0.46 per diluted share).

Quarterly operating revenue increased 10% to $438.4m, with operating income up 18% to $67.1m.

For the first half of 2010 Lazard recorded fully exchanged net income of $114.5m ($0.84 per diluted share), a great improvement on the net income of $13.5m ($0.11 per diluted share) that it made in the first half of 2009.

Biannual operating revenue was up 33% to $895.3m, and operating income for the first six months of 2010 increased by more than 400% to $144.5m.

Chairman and CEO Kenneth M. Jacobs has welcomed the strong results, stating that the firm has gained market share as well as increasing its profit margin.