An improving market for deals and cost cutting helped bolster Lazard’s third-quarter earnings, as the investment bank reported on Thursday a 75 percent jump in profit from the same period a year ago.
The firm said that it earned $62 million in adjusted profit for the quarter, amounting to 46 cents a share. Analysts, on average, had been expecting a profit of 45 cents a share, according to estimates compiled by Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ.
It also reported a 10 percent rise in operating revenue, to $489 million.
“It was a solid quarter on both sides of the business,†Kenneth Jacobs, Lazard’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview.
The improvement in Lazard’s results reflect, in part, a rise in markets, which has helped both the firm’s core financial advisory arm and its asset management business.
Its best-known operation, its mergers arm, reported a 3 percent rise in revenue, to $192 million. Assignments that the firm completed in the quarter included the sale of the Dutch coffee and tea company D.E. Master Blenders 1753 to Joh. A. Benckiser and Ameristar Casinos’ $2.8 billion sale to Pinnacle Entertainment.
Mr. Jacobs said that he expected mergers activity to continue rising, given continued improvements in global economies and, increasingly, more boldness within corporate boardrooms.
“The change in the last six to 12 months has generally been confidence,†he said. “That augurs well for deals.â€
And Lazard’s asset management arm reported a 13 percent rise in revenue, to $248 million, as the firm’s assets under management rose to an all-time high of $176 billion thanks to rising values and new client money.
The investment bank also disclosed that it held its adjusted compensation ratio at 60 percent, compared with 62.7 percent in the same time last year. Its ratio of noncompensation expenses to operating revenue fell to 19.7 percent from 21.5 percent.
