Global brokerage BGC Partners, Inc. has provided an updated financial and operations outlook for the first quarter of 2020 on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic brings Volatility back into the markets.
Namely, the New york-headquartered financial services firm said that thanks to the enormous effort of its employees and clients, the company believes that it is likely to perform better than it had previously expected.
This is largely due to the fact that the month of March has been highly volatile, as Finance Magnates has repeatedly reported, with significant volumes across numerous global instruments.
In the company's previous financial statement, BGC Partners expected to achieve revenues in the first quarter of 2020, ranging from $540 to $580 million. This is in comparison to the actual revenues achieved in the first quarter of 2019, which was $544.8 million.
Pre-tax adjusted earnings were expected to fall within $90 to $106 million in the first quarter, which would be below that reported in Q1 of 2019, which was $106.2 million. The adjusted earnings tax rate was expected to be 10-12 percent.
BGC Partners to release Q1 results in May
Based on today's statement, it is likely that all of these results will be better than previously anticipated. The company will release its first-quarter 2020 financial results before the market open on May 5, 2020.
Commenting on the announcement, Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and Chief Executive Ocer of BGC, said in the statement: "Our clients are also operating under incredibly challenging conditions.
"We are working closer than ever with our clients' employees, traders, salespeople, technology professionals, and operational sta in order to maintain their connectivity to our platforms, and to help them access critical global market Liquidity . We will continue to adapt as conditions change."
In the statement released today, BGC Partners said that its balance sheet and liquidity remain strong. Nonetheless, it has drawn down an aggregate of $230 million from its revolving credit facility since December 31, 2019, for a total of $300 million outstanding.
