Increasing productivity by financial advisors contributed to the record revenue performance of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. for the third quarter of 2013, LPL announced Wednesday.
The firm’s growth also was attributed to a 97 percent advisor retention rate and a solid showing in advisor recruitment, says Dan Arnold, LPL Financial chief financial officer.
Net revenue for the third quarter was $1.05 billion, a 16.1 percent increase over the $907.23 million for the third quarter of 2012, Arnold says. Earnings per share increased to 36 cents, compared with 31 cents in the third quarter last year.
Net new advisors grew by 154 for the quarter, bringing total new advisors for the past 12 months to 393. The 97 percent retention rate continues to lead the industry, according to Mark Casady, chairman and CEO.
Annualized commissions per advisor rose to $156,000 and net new advisory assets were $4 billion, Casady reports.
Assets under custody on the LPL Financial Independent RIA platform, which provides integrated RIA firm advisory fee- and commission-based services for independent advisors, grew 55.1 percent year-to-date to $54.9 billion as of Sept. 30, for 228 RIA firms. Last year there was $35.4 billion in assets for 180 firms.
LPL reports the firm bought back 3.3 million shares in the third quarter for $126.5 million, bringing the total of repurchased shares for the past 18 months to 10.6 million shares.
Arnold and Casady both see continued growth in the future as investors continue to gain confidence after the market meltdown of 2008.
“Increasing advisor productivity led to record revenue performance and, combined with ongoing share repurchases, generated adjusted earnings per share of 56 cents for the quarter, a 19 percent increase year-over-year,” says Casady. “Combined with the progress we're seeing from investments we've made to deliver new technologies and a smarter, simpler, more personal service offering to advisors, we believe we will achieve greater efficiency and scale in 2014."