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Terry Smith's broking firm Tullett Prebon, which is fighting a High Court case accusing rival BGC Partners of trying to poach up to 90 London staff, today said its business had been “robust” over the last four months.
Revenue in the four months from July to October was down £30 million at £302 million. The firm said that was good, given the comparable period last year was dominated by the collapse of Lehman Brothers which led to huge volumes of trading in highly volatile markets.
The latest period has seen volatility in interest-rate structures, currencies and credit spreads while governments have issued a high level of bonds.
Smith is due to give evidence in the London court case today. Tullett has been given a temporary injunction preventing the 10 or so brokers who have left to join BGC from doing so. In the US, it has also launched an action against BGC under New Jersey racketeering legislation. It claims that in a raid on Tullett in August, BGC tried to poach 81 brokers from its North American business, 51 of whom had now left. It said these brokers accounted for some 7.5% of group revenues.
