General Motors Sees Sluggish Sales in First Quarter

Jefferies Comes Up Short in Fiscal Q1

Investment banking firm Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF) reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that fell short of expectations, sending its shares tumbling in after-hours trading.

For the quarter ended February 28, Jefferies reported a loss of $64.3 million, or $0.23 per share, compared to a profit of $144.6 million, or $0.51 per share, in the same period a year ago. The results were well below the consensus estimate of $0.27 per share among analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Revenue for the quarter slipped 14% to $1.24 billion, down from $1.43 billion in the year-ago period. The decline was largely due to a 23% drop in fixed-income trading revenue, which fell to $444 million from $576 million a year ago.

Jefferies' equities trading revenue also declined, down 10% to $533 million from $593 million in the prior-year quarter. The firm's advisory and asset management businesses saw revenue increases, but these gains were not enough to offset the declines in trading revenue.

"We faced challenging market conditions in the quarter, particularly in fixed income, which had a significant impact on our results," said Rich Handler, Jefferies' CEO, in a statement. "Despite these headwinds, we remain confident in our ability to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing market environment."

Jefferies' shares fell as much as 12% in after-hours trading following the earnings release, before paring some of the losses. The stock closed the regular session down 2.3% at $25.35.