Multinational financial services and execution company INTL FCStone Inc. (Nasdaq:INTL) today announced its financial results for its fiscal year 2014 fourth quarter ended September 30, 2014.
OTC contract volumes at INTL FCStone increased by 12%, with 3,536,000 contracts having been traded in the three months ended September 30 2014, compared to 3,159,000 in the same period during 2013. Interestingly, whilst OTC trading activity increased, exchange traded volume decreased by 6% from 225,258,000 contracts in the three months ended September 30 2014, compared to 239,156,000 in the same period in 2013.
Sean M. O’Connor, CEO of INTL FCStone Inc., stated “We continued to see steadily improving conditions over the last year for our overall business. We realized record operating revenues, up 17% for the quarter versus a year ago and up 5% for the year.”
The company also reported record quarterly and annual operating revenues in global payments which were up 50% for the quarter and 35% for the year, and improved commercial hedging revenues which increased by 28% for the quarter and 11% for the year.
Mr. O’Connor went on to state that “Despite cost pressures, we managed to hold overall expenses to a 10% increase for the quarter and 3% for the year overall. This resulted in our income from continuing operations increasing by $4.1 million for the quarter and 5% for the year overall. Excluding the nonrecurring after-tax gain of $5.8 million realized last year on the sale of our LME and Kansas City Board of Trade shares, the net income from continuing operations increased by 53% on an annual basis.”
“Our significantly improved results were driven by strong growth in revenues from Global Payments (up 35% for the year), Commercial Hedging, our largest segment, (up 11%), and Securities (up 15%), while the Physical Commodities business declined 23% and Clearing and Execution Services showed a 6% decline” continued Mr. O’Connor.
“We are very pleased to have recently reached an agreement to acquire G.X. Clarke & Co., which rounds out our product offering in Securities by adding a deep and broad client base in the institutional market, as well as a proven expertise in the government rates markets. This transaction is expected to close in January 2015, and is expected to have a material and positive impact on our Securities segment.”
“Looking forward, we foresee a continued moderate improvement in the market environment, as well as a consolidation in our markets, driven by regulatory pressures and the desire of clients to deal with fewer, better capitalized counterparts. We believe that we are very well placed to benefit from this environment and realize economies of scale that should have a leveraged impact on our net earnings” concluded Mr. O’Connor.
Historically, certain financial metrics disclosed in our press releases were on a non-GAAP basis, reflecting marked-to-market differences in the Company’s Physical Commodities segment. Following the discontinuance of our physical base metals business, we believe the effects of these mark-to-market differences on our results are no longer material, and we will no longer disclose these non-GAAP financial results.
For the official announcement from INTL FCStone, click here.