Lazard earnings fall on declining revenue, investment losses

Net income for the quarter ended March 31 fell to $7.8 million, or 14 cents per share, from $26.4 million, or 47 cents per share, during the same quarter a year earlier.

Assuming the future conversion of ownership interests received by Lazard's senior management when the company went public in late 2005, profit was nearly $16 million compared with $26.4 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, forecast earnings of 48 cents per share for the quarter.

Lazard's first-quarter earnings fell sharply as revenue from its financial advisory division fell 5 percent to $212.4 million. The decline in revenue in the division was tied to a drop in mergers and acquisitions and strategic advisory revenue.

Revenue from mergers and acquisitions and strategic advisory fell 15 percent to $166 million.

The investment bank run by Bruce Wasserstein also recorded a loss of $39.7 million during the first quarter because of write-downs and losses in its Paris bank's portfolio of debt securities. Lazard recorded income of $18.7 million during the first quarter last year from its debt securities portfolios.