Jefferies Financial Group Inc has announced its financial results for the three and twelve month periods ended November 30, 2020.
Jefferies adeclared a quarterly cash dividend equal to US$0.20 per Jefferies common share payable on February 26, 2021.
Jefferies also increased the company's stock buyback authorization by US$193 million to a total of US$250 million.
Jefferies Group recorded record quarterly net revenues of US$1,6 billion, record pre-tax income of US$406 million, record net earnings of US$307 million and return on tangible equity of 26.2 percent.
Record quarterly investment banking net revenues of US$916 million, including record equity underwriting net revenues of US$341 million, record advisory net revenues of US$357 million, and record debt underwriting net revenues of US$209 million
Combined capital markets net revenues of US$590 million; record quarterly equities net revenues of US$327 million and fixed income net revenues of US$263 million
Asset management revenues (before allocated net interest) of US$83 million.
Merchant banking recorded pre-tax income of US$33 million, reflecting record quarterly results from Idaho Timber and mark-to-market increases in the value of several of our investments in public companies
Net income attributable to Jefferies Financial Group common shareholders was US$307 million, or US$1.11 per diluted share.
Jefferie repurchased 9.5 million shares for US$193 million, or an average price of US$20.34 per share; 249.8 million shares were outstanding and 273.6 million shares were outstanding on a fully diluted basis at November 30, 2020.
Jefferies book value per share was US$37.65 and tangible book value per fully diluted share was US$27.38 at the end of the fourth quarter
Jefferies Financial Group had parent company liquidity of US$1.9 billion at November 30, 2020. Jefferies Group had a record liquidity buffer of US$8.6 billion of cash and unencumbered liquid collateral at November 30, 2020, which represented 18 percent of its total balance sheet.
For the 12 months, net revenues were US$5.19 billion, while pre-tax income was a record US$1.17 billion. Net earnings were a record US$875 million and the return on tangible equity was 20.4 percent.
Record investment nanking net revenues of US$2.39 billion, including record advisory net revenues of US$1.05 billion, record equity underwriting net revenues of US$902 million and debt underwriting net revenues of US$546 million.
Jefferies reported record combined 12 months capital markets net revenues of US$2.47 billion, including record equities net revenues of US$1.12 billion and record fixed income net revenues of US$1.34 billion
Jefferies reported record asset management revenues (before allocated net interest) of US$257 million
Merchant banking pre-tax loss was US$25 million, reflecting record performance from Idaho Timber, a positive contribution from Vitesse, and the previously reported gain of about US$60 million from effective short-term hedges in the first quarter, more than offset by US$145 million in previously reported non-cash charges in the first half of 2020 related to write-downs of investments in WeWork, JETX and some of the real estate assets of HomeFed.
Net income attributable to Jefferies Financial Group common shareholders was US$770 million, or US$2.65 per diluted share.
Repurchases of 42.1 million shares for US$813 million, or an average price of US$19.29 per share; together with US$161 million in dividends, an aggregate of US$974 million was returned to shareholders in 2020. Over the past three fiscal years, Jefferies has returned to shareholders nearly US$3.4 billion.
CEO and President, Rich Handler, said: "The results for our fourth quarter and full year 2020 are outstanding and testament to the relentless dedication and tireless effort of the entire Jefferies team. We gained market share and have established Jefferies at yet another higher level of achievement and potential. We are optimistic that our momentum and strength will be sustained in 2021."
