Morgan Stanley has reported a loss from continuing operations for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009 of $159 million, or $1.37 per diluted share (reflective of preferred dividends and other adjustments), compared with income from continuing operations of $689 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, a year ago.
Net revenues for the quarter were $5.4 billion, compared with $6.1 billion in last year’s second quarter. Non-interest expenses were $6 billion, compared with $5.2 billion a year ago. Compensation expenses were $3.9 billion, compared with $3.1 billion a year ago. Non-compensation expenses increased slightly from a year ago. Reportedly, comparisons of current quarter results to prior periods are impacted by the results of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture (MSSB), which closed on May 31, 2009.
John Mack, chairman and CEO, said, Morgan Stanley delivered improved performance across many of our businesses this quarter – including in investment banking, and saw strong gains in both equity and debt underwriting. We also saw improvements from the prior quarter in prime brokerage, cash equities as well as in investment grade and distressed debt trading; and we had solid results in wealth management. But we are not satisfied with our performance in other key areas of fixed income trading and in asset management.”
“This quarter we also saw continued improvement in our credit default spreads and were among the first banks to repurchase TARP capital – which are significant positive developments for the firm, but nonetheless had a negative impact on our results.”
