Revenues at Smith Barney grew 27 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, Citigroup has reported, driven by an 18 percent growth in fee-based and net interest revenues and a 43 percent increase in transactional revenues. Growth in fee-based revenues was driven by a continued shift toward offering fee-based advisory products and services, the company explained in a January 15 press release. Transactional revenue growth primarily reflected the increased ownership of Nikko Cordial in Japan.
This improvement at Smith Barney came as the overall corporation reported a fourth quarter net loss of close to $10 billion and an $18 billion write-down. For the full year 2007, net income was $3.62 billion, or $0.72 per share, the company says.
Assets at Smith Barney under fee-based management increased 30 percent to $446 billion in the fourth quarter, primarily driven by acquisitions, positive market action and net client asset flows.
