Online investment banking firm Wit Capital Group Inc has reported a third-quarter net loss of $5.1m on revenue of $12.4m, up from a loss of $2.3m on revenue of $956,000 in the year ago quarter. On a per-share basis, the loss amounted to $0.08, when analysts were expecting a wider loss of $0.12. Total revenues were up 10% from the prior quarter. Investment banking revenue for the quarter was $8.4m, while brokerage activities brought in $2.1m and interest amounted to $1.8m. Total expenses were $17.5m.
Wit says during the quarter it acted as co-manager in 16 securities offerings and participated as a syndicate member in an additional 17 offerings, compared to 21 co-managed offerings and participation as a syndicate member in 21 offerings in the second quarter. The bank also executed 117,000 trades during the quarter, up from 87,000 in the prior quarter. The average number of daily trades rose more than 30% to 1,833 and active accounts increased 27,000 to 53,000. For the nine-month period, net loss was $12.8m on revenue of $27.6m, up from a loss of $5.6m on revenue of $1.3m last year.
