LPL Sees Strong 4Q

Due to a late-year revival in securities market values and investor participation, LPL Investment Holdings, the parent of LPL Financial, reported Thursday that net income rose 4.4% last year to $47.5 million from a year earlier.

In the fourth quarter, the San Diego-based company's net income rose to $18.6 million from $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, it said in an 8-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Non-GAAP net income, which excluded restructuring charges related to an overall reduction in its workforce, rose 52.1% to $82.9 million from a year earlier.

Net revenue for the same period increased 4.4% to $734.9 million. That result was propelled by a 19.5% increase in total advisory and brokerage assets to $279.4 billion.

The results are also a recovery from a $43 million drop in net income in the third quarter. That sag was due largely to the over $42 million in expenses related to the conversion in September of three broker-dealers onto the company’s self-clearing platform.

“We are very pleased with our strong final quarter in 2009, as well as our solid financial and operational performance for the full year,” Mark Casady, LPL Financial's chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement.

The results did, however, leave room for growth. Net revenue for last year declined 11.8% from a year earlier to $2.7 billion. The company attributed this primarily to poor market conditions prior to the fourth quarter.

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