Saxo bank released its interim results this week. The bank may have had a troubling six months in its relationship with the Danish FSA (FX comment: Was regulator pressured to act on Saxo by press reports?) but the business itself is booming.
Pre-tax profit was reported at DKK727 million ($126 million) for the half year and, according to the report, exceeded all previous full-year results in Saxo’s history. Operating income more than doubled to almost DKK2 billion ($344 million) and the increase was reportedly “mainly organic and driven by...business initiatives.”
Mining the data for a clue of FX trading income is an even more futile task than usual. However, there is a line regarding “Price and exchange rate adjustments – foreign exchange” which is up at DKK1541 million ($266 million) compared with DKK968 million for the first half of 2009.
With the record profits a welcome relief following the travails with the FSA, it isn’t a great shock that American private equity investment firm, General Atlantic LLC, is reported to be looking to sell its stake of 22% in Saxo Bank after five years of ownership. According to Danish daily Berlingske Tidende, JPMorgan and SEB Enskilda have been hired by General Atlantic to find a buyer.