Mkt changed mood in time; investment banking dull: MOFS

Raamdeo Agrawal, director and co-founder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFS) explains to CNBC-TV18, after the announcement of results, that the company's performance for the quarter till September was quite depressed.

Agrawal adds that the market's mood changed in the last 15-20 days and that aid the company to end the quarter with a profit. He highlights that the investment banking division was dull due to low rate of closure of deals. Below is an edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18. Q: Can you explain this quarter's performance? Your revenues have jumped three percent quarter-on-quarter. Your EBITDA has grown by about 9 percent. How has the quarter been and in terms of individual segments, what was the performance?
A: This quarter was shaping up to be quite depressed till September and the two-and-half months were not comparable with last quarter. It was quite bad. Then the market mood changed and turnover went up almost double in the last 15-20 days.
I think that has saved the quarter, though year-on-year we are little lower. But sequentially, it looks the situation has stabilised and we will continue to make Rs 20-25 crore in profit every quarter.
So, the quarter, on the whole, has been steady. The brokerage income has been flattish, about 1 or 2 percent higher, though year-on-year, we are little lower. I hope these would be the worst quarters seen in the last few years. Q: What about the investment banking vertical? Have you seen any kind of pickup and what are you expecting to see in the following quarters?
A: Investment banking has been very subdued. Though the deal pipeline is very strong, closure has been very difficult. I hope that with the change in the market mood in the second-half, more deals are closed with better revenues.