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Goldman Sachs Posts Deeper-than-expected Q3 Loss

By Reuters

  • 18 Oct 2011

Goldman Sachs Group Inc posted a wider-than-expected loss of $428 million for the third quarter, only its second quarterly loss as a public company, hurt by sharp declines in the value of investment securities and customer trading assets.

Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein cited difficult market conditions and a lack of confidence among investors and corporate clients for the poor results.

"Our results were significantly impacted by the environment and we were disappointed to record a loss in the quarter," Blankfein said.

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Shares of the largest US investment bank by assets were down 2 per cent in premarket trading.

Goldman's loss-driver was its Investing & Lending division, which holds stocks, bonds, loans and private equity assets as long-term investments.

The division reported negative revenue of $2.48 billion as the value of those assets dropped sharply. Goldman's stock investment in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd alone generated more than $1 billion of paper losses.

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Goldman was also hurt by big declines in bond trading and investment banking revenue.

Its fixed income, currency and commodities client trading business reported $1.73 billion in revenue, a 36 per cent decline from a year earlier. Investment banking revenue dropped 33 per cent to $781 million.

Overall, Goldman's net revenue totalled $3.6 billion, down 60 per cent from a year earlier and down 51 per cent from the 2011 second quarter.

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Its third-quarter loss amounted to 84 cents per share, compared with a profit of $2.98 per share a year earlier. On average, analysts had expected a loss of 16 cents per share.

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