Jefferies Group LLC said its investment-banking revenue rose 42%
in its fiscal first quarter while fixed-income revenue dropped
about 17%, continuing the trends the bank reported last year.
Jefferies, which was recently acquired by Leucadia National
Corp. (LUK), is often seen as something of a barometer for larger
rivals Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS),
though its fiscal quarter ends a month earlier.
While no longer a public company, Jefferies still files
quarterly and annual reports with the Securities and Exchange
Commission separate from those of its owner because it issues debt
under its holding company.
The company announced Tuesday's preliminary results in advance
of a conference call between Jefferies and Leucadia.
Jefferies said it estimates its investment banking revenue rose
about 42% to $410 million for the quarter ended Feb. 28.
Fixed-income revenue is expected to come in at $280 million, about
17% lower than last year.
Overall, the company expects to report earnings of $105 million
and revenue of $875 million.
Jefferies said its holdings in Knight Capital and Harbinger
Group Inc. were marked down by $15 million, hurting its top-line
results.
The company's results for 2013 were below the prior year's
because of a difficult mid-year fixed-income environment, but the
company finished the year strongly, Jefferies said in December.
The company expects to report its full first-quarter results on
March 18.
Write to Everdeen Mason at everdeen.mason@wsj.com
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