LONDON: Rothschild reported a 13% rise in revenues to 487.2m in its latest quarter thanks to a strong performance from its asset management business, after a slowdown in growth at its global advisory arm. Asset management revenues surged 43% to 147.8m in the last quarter of its financial year to the end of March. The larger advisory side’s revenues went up a modest 6% to 328.2m.
The French-headquartered group remained positive for the rest of the calendar year. “Despite lower M&A market activity in the first quarter of 2017, the conditions for M&A continue to be positive. We therefore expect the M&A market overall to be active for the rest of 2017, although the group remain alert to the potential risk of volatility.”
The firm has been growing its advisory business in the US and has recruited a number of senior bankers and opened two offices there in recent months. It said this would “marginally dilute our global advisory operating income during the investment phase.” For the full financial year, advisory revenues rose 14% to 1.19bn. The majority of this, 875m, related to M&A advice with the remainder from financing advice. The ratio of staff compensation costs to revenues went down just 20bp to 64.6%.
