Piper Jaffray Cos. said Friday that its second-quarter profit rose 67%, shaped by a surge in investment income from its merchant bank.
The Minneapolis-based investment bank said it earned $10.4 million, or 72 cents a share, in the April-through-June period. Revenue rose 6% to $172.4 million.
Piper Jaffray Chief Executive Chad Abraham said in a statement that the results reflected a "solid performance" and that the firm expected a "robust second half."
The company has been taking steps to focus more on investment banking services. It announced during the quarter that it would sell its asset-management business, called Advisory Research Inc., in two transactions.
Adjusting for that sale, Piper Jaffray's per-share profit jumped 61% and amounted to $1.32 a share, above the $1.04 a share analysts were forecasting.
The company's shares rose 3.4% Friday.
Piper Jaffray earlier this month announced its biggest acquisition, a $485 million deal for Sandler O'Neill and Partners, a boutique investment bank in New York that specializes in deals in the financial-services industry.
That deal will close early next year and lead to a renaming of the firm as Piper Sandler Cos.
