Strong performance in ITG’s European business has helped sustain revenues for the agency broker amid lower activity in North America.
Globally the business saw revenues dip slightly in Q2 2014, from US$139.3 million in the same period of last year to US$138.5 million. However, cost led to it posting higher net income, up 153% year-on-year to US$12.9 million.
It was ITG’s European business that shone through, which saw particularly strong trading on its POSIT block trading platform. Average daily value traded on POSIT in Europe almost doubled from US$674 million in 2013 to US$1.02 billion.
Overall, the agency broker’s international business saw revenues climb from US$54.7 million to US$61.1 million. European operations accounted for more than half of this at US$31.1 million, up 43% compared to Q2 2013.
However, ITG’s Asian business saw sales fall 5% to US$12.1 million, while its Canadian revenues dropped 11% to US$17.9 million, which the firm’s management blamed on the FX impact of weakness in the Canadian dollar.
Its core US business also faced tough trading conditions, down 8.6% from US$86.4 million to US$77.3 million.
Bob Gasser, CEO and president of ITG, said, “We performed extremely well in Europe again, moved closer to profitability in Asia Pacific and pushed our average US revenue per share to the highest level in nearly three years thanks primarily to increased rates on high-touch trading. Our investments in research helped push revenues for our global research, sales and trading offering up 8% over last year's second quarter."
"We believe ITG is well positioned to succeed as we work to grow our client base, broaden our international reach and expand our capabilities in asset classes beyond equities."
As part of its moves to broaden its offering, ITG announced earlier this week that it had acquired Paris-based RFQ-Hub, proving it with increased capabilities to help institutional clients trade a variety of OTC products including equities, fixed income and derivatives. The firm added that it felt RFQ-Hub was an early leader in electronic trading of OTC products, which is being driven forward by global reforms to OTC derivatives trading such as the Dodd-Frank Act and European market infrastructure regulation.