Handler with care

15 March 2016 By Antony Currie Follow @AntonyMCurrie

As during the crisis, boss Richard Handler reckons the securities firm can win clients from retreating Wall Street rivals. Trouble is, the eight years he has spent doing that have yielded low returns, culminating in a $167 mln loss last quarter. He’s just in a tough business.

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Jefferies on March 15 reported a loss of $167 million for its first quarter, which ran from December to February. Chief Executive Richard Handler said: “Almost every asset class, including equities and fixed income, suffered significantly amid concerns about the pace of global economic growth, outflows from the high yield market, forced selling from hedge funds, uncertainty over China, a potential Brexit, and an overall void in liquidity.”

He also noted that “new issue equity and leveraged finance capital markets were virtually closed throughout January and February,” while pointing out that so far this month “it appears markets have not only stabilized, but aggressively snapped back.”

Handler said that the “recent challenges, together with other issues that are unique to them, have been causing many of our primary competitors to adapt their business strategy, shrink aggressively, and focus on their other core operating businesses, such as retail and commercial banking. We believe there is significant long-term opportunity for Jefferies to be even more relevant and gain further market share in serving our clients.”

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