Lazard had a good first quarter, a great second quarter, and a fantastic third quarter. Today its Q4 results are out and a different adjective is needed. Lazard had a frugal fourth quarter.
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Lazard's revenues in Q4 of 2024 were up 2% compared to Q4 of 2023, a rather soft landing to round out a good year. Its revenues were up 21% between 2023 as a whole and 2024. A net loss of $75m across 2024 became a net profit of $280m.
More interestingly, although Lazard’s headcount crept down slightly (by less than 1%), the composition of its staff changed throughout the year. There were fewer people in the Americas, and more people in EMEA. The percentage of people in APAC remained level.
Those extra Europeans were beneficial to not just the revenue increase; they were also cheaper. Lazard’s wage bill barely inched up, by less than 3%, despite the huge revenue increase. Average pay per head went from $591k to $614k – a 4% increase.
Those comparatively cheap Europeans helped drive Lazard’s success. Market intelligence provider Dealogic said that, of the firm’s $953m in M&A revenue in 2024, $490m came from EMEA. It shot up from 8th to 5th in the league tables in EMEA between 2023 and 2024, and from only 10th to 9th globally in the same period.
2024's new faces in London last year included Fabien Antignac, who joined from UBS’ LevFin team to head up Lazard’s European debt advisory and capital solutions team in November. Morgan Stanley veteran Michele Colocci joined from his retirement in May 2024 as vice chairman of investment banking.
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