Less than two weeks after Virtu Financial, Inc. published its preliminary estimated financial results for the fourth quarter of 2019, the high-speed trading firm has published its actual results this Tuesday.
In particular, the financial services firm has reported its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results, both ending on the 31st of December, 2019, today. As Finance Magnates reported, the company has managed to achieve normalized adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.27, which is well above the consensus estimate of 20 cents and in line with the company's forecast of 26 cents-27 cents.
For the final quarter of 2019, Virtu expected to report a net loss between $29 and $31 million. According to the results published today, that estimate was spot on, with the financial services firm reporting a net loss of $29.4 million, driven by acquisition-related costs.
However, for the fourth quarter, the firm achieved a normalized adjusted net income of $51.4 million. In the same period of the previous year, Virtu reported a net income of $148 million.
Net trading income beats consensus
Net trading income also fell nicely between the company's estimates, coming in at $228.7 million, when the forecasted range was $227 and $229 million. While this is lower than the net trading income of $366 million reported in the final quarter of 2018 (lower by around 37 percent), adjusted net trading income was $257.2 million – which is well above consensus.
Commenting on the results, Douglas A. Cifu, Chief Executive Officer of Virtu Financial, said in the statement: "I'm very pleased with the strong performance we delivered in the fourth quarter amidst the muted global trading environment. Our market making results were driven by our ongoing commitment to investing in technology, which also led to notable growth in our European and U.S. Equities market making segment in both our customer and non-customer businesses."
"In our Execution services business, we continue to integrate ITG, and our expense synergies realized to date have already exceeded our own initial expectations. We believe there are significant growth opportunities ahead as we continue to add scale, market presence and execution capabilities that will add value to our clients' trading and investment processes. Our business is off to a strong start in 2020 and I'm excited for the opportunities ahead."
