In May this year, Lehman Brothers celebrated its tenth anniversary as a public company. In that time, the firm’s stock price has witnessed a compound annual growth of almost 30% and its net income has grown ten-fold. The second quarter results were also good. Even if they were unable to match Lehman’s highest ever figures in the first quarter, a net income of $609m and earnings per share of $2.01 still managed to put smiles on senior faces.
The figures are particularly pleasing for a firm that longs to be seen as more than a bond house and which, since 1999, has gone to considerable effort and expense to build out its expertise in equity capital markets (ECM), investment banking, and wealth and asset management.
