US financial group Merrill Lynch has reported that its third-quarter profits more than doubled, mainly because of a hefty one-off pre-tax gain of $2 billion from its merger with BlackRock.
The Wall Street giant reported record third-quarter net profits of $3 billion, up sharply from $1.4 billion for the same period a year ago. That translated into earnings per share of $3.17, well ahead of Wall Street forecasts.
Merrill CEO Stan O'Neal told investors that the company saw solid growth in all three of its core business segments, despite a 'challenging' business environment.
Excluding the hefty benefit from its merger with the BlackRock asset management group, net profits would still have grown to $1.9 billion during the quarter. Merrill's overall revenues swelled to $9.9 billion from $6.7 billion a year ago.
