NEW YORK, July 21, 2010 – Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL) today reported revenues of $83.5 million and net income available to common stockholders of $17.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. Diluted earnings per share were $0.57 for the quarter.
The Firm’s second quarter revenues compare with revenues of $54.1 million for the second quarter of 2009, which represents an increase of $29.4 million or 54%. For the six months ended June 30, 2010, revenues were $132.4 million, compared to $115.9 million for the comparable period in 2009, representing an increase of $16.5 million or 14%.
The Firm’s second quarter net income available to common stockholders and diluted earnings per share in 2010 compare with net income available to common stockholders of $10.3 million and $0.35 of diluted earnings per share in the second quarter of 2009, which represent increases of 71% and 63%, respectively. On a year-to-date basis net income available to common stockholders was $18.1 million through June 30, 2010, compared to net income available to common stockholders of $24.2 million for the comparable period in 2009, which represents a decrease of 25%. Diluted earnings per share for the six months ended June 30, 2010 were $0.59, compared to $0.82 for the same period in 2009.
The Firm’s revenues and net income can fluctuate materially depending on the number and size of completed transactions on which it advised, the number and size of investment gains (or losses) and other factors. Accordingly, the revenues and net income in any particular period may not be indicative of future results.
“We view our first half results as a solid accomplishment given both a challenging economic environment and the continued significant expansion of the Firm. Our total revenue is up for the year, and our advisory revenue is down only modestly despite a continued sluggish level of transaction activity in our primary markets in the first half. Our year to date compensation ratio is down significantly from its level in the first quarter, and our objective is to bring the full year ratio down further provided we earn sufficient revenue to accomplish that while still appropriately rewarding our people. Having maintained our low historic compensation ratio through the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 despite extraordinary growth in the Firm, our strong objective is to maintain that discipline on an annual basis going forward whenever possible. Similarly, our non-compensation costs have remained well controlled despite reflecting transaction costs from the Australian acquisition, the addition of operating costs of the Australian business, the addition of several new offices and significant continued recruiting across the Firm,” Robert F. Greenhill, Chairman, said.
“While the general level of transaction activity has remained difficult and the time to completion of transactions has generally become longer, we have seen signs of recent improvement at least at our Firm. There are 17 transactions on which we are advising that have been announced from April 1 to date. This wide range of transactions reflects the success of our focused strategy and the global breadth of our Firm. Our Tokyo office is making a meaningful contribution in only its second year in operation. Our new Australian team is already well integrated into the global Greenhill team, and has already been active in several announced transactions. Our North American business, operating through 6 regional offices, is seeing a good flow of advisory activity. In Europe, historically a very important source of revenue to the Firm, the general level of transaction activity has remained the most difficult, although even there we have had a few important transaction announcements in recent weeks. What is clear is that we have substantially expanded our geographic reach, our industry sector expertise and the total size of our team in the last 2-3 years, and we are well positioned to benefit from that as and when general transaction activity returns toward historic normal levels,” Scott L. Bok, Chief Executive Officer, added.