Goldman Sachs: fourth-quarter profit falls on soaring costs
(CercleFinance.com) - Goldman Sachs reported a 24% fall in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, as higher operating expenses outweighed a rise in revenue made in asset management and on financial markets.
Wall Street's biggest investment bank said net income fell to 1.92 billion dollars, or 4.69 dollars a share, in the quarter ended 31 December, from 2.5 billion dollars, or 6.04 dollars a share, in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The results fell short of the consensus of 5.47 dollars a share.
Yet, quarterly revenue rose by 23% to almost 10 billion dollars, the firm said.
Goldman Sachs - which recently reorganised its operations into four new segments - said revenues in global markets - its flagship division - rose by 33% to 3.5 billion dollars.
Net revenues in the asset management unit were 3 billion dollars in the fourth quarter, 52% higher year-on-year.
However, operating expenses jumped by 42% to 7.3 billion dollars in the quarter, mainly due to higher compensation and benefits costs.
The firm also said that net provisions for litigation and regulatory proceedings for the fourth quarter were 1.1 billion dollars, compared with 516 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Goldman shares are down 0.8% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
Wall Street's biggest investment bank said net income fell to 1.92 billion dollars, or 4.69 dollars a share, in the quarter ended 31 December, from 2.5 billion dollars, or 6.04 dollars a share, in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The results fell short of the consensus of 5.47 dollars a share.
Yet, quarterly revenue rose by 23% to almost 10 billion dollars, the firm said.
Goldman Sachs - which recently reorganised its operations into four new segments - said revenues in global markets - its flagship division - rose by 33% to 3.5 billion dollars.
Net revenues in the asset management unit were 3 billion dollars in the fourth quarter, 52% higher year-on-year.
However, operating expenses jumped by 42% to 7.3 billion dollars in the quarter, mainly due to higher compensation and benefits costs.
The firm also said that net provisions for litigation and regulatory proceedings for the fourth quarter were 1.1 billion dollars, compared with 516 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Goldman shares are down 0.8% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.