Global brokerage and financial technology firm BGC Partners has reported record-high revenues of $52.4 million for its Corant Global business during the first quarter of 2021, up 16.8% on the same period last year.
The Corant result helped to offset a 5.9% decrease in overall revenues for BGC, which stood at $567.6 million for the quarter, versus $603.2 million previously.
However, BGC noted that this was still its second highest ever total revenue, after the COVID-19 pandemic drove market volatility and trading volumes to record levels.
Pandemic-related events drove revenues over $43 million higher than the mid-point of BGC’srevenue outlook for the first quarter of 2020, and excluding the impact of these pandemic-related events, Q1 2021 revenues would have been an estimated $8million higher than last year.
BGC also reported record net revenues of $105.6 million at its Fenics business, which was an improvement of 40.0% over Q1 of the previous year.
The brokerage saw strong growth across both US and European rates last quarter, and saw a favorable trading environment across many of the rates products that it brokers, due to US interest rates driving higher volatility.
“BGC’s margins improved across nearly all measures, driven by record Fenics and Corant revenues,” commented Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of BGC Partners.
“Fenics growth accelerated during the first quarter, with net revenues increasing by 40 percent and represented over 20 percent of our total revenues, excluding insurance – its highest ever contribution. The growth in our Fenics platforms continued to significantly outpace the overall business as we added new clients and expanded our product offerings.”
As we continue to grow our higher margin businesses, we are well positioned for increased profitability,” Lutnick concluded.
