Morgan Stanley back in black, logs $1.41 bn profit in Q1

Bolstered by stellar sales and trading revenues, banking major Morgan Stanley has turned in with a profit of $ 1.41 billion in first three months of the year, against a loss of $ 578 million in the year-ago period.

Bolstered by stellar sales and trading revenues, banking major Morgan Stanley has turned in with a profit of $ 1.41 billion in first three months of the year, against a loss of $ 578 million in the year-ago period.

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Morgan Stanley, which was rattled by the financial meltdown, reaped the first quarter profit on robust revenues of $ 9.08 billion, it said in a statement today. Signalling the improving fortunes of the company, the revenues steeply jumped from just $ 2.89 billion from the year-ago period.

It is the latest Wall Street firm to record good first quarter results and comes on the heels of similar showing by Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

"Sales and trading net revenues were $ 4.1 billion, compared with $ 1.4 billion last year. The rise reflected the effect of the improvement in Morgan Stanley's debt- related credit spreads in the prior year, as well as higher results in fixed income," the statement said.

Commenting on the results, Morgan Stanley president and chief executive James P Gorman said the bank still has a great deal of work to do. "Looking ahead, I remain confident that Morgan Stanley has the right mix of businesses and talent to
continue serving our clients in a first-class way and deliver strong, sustainable earnings over time," he noted.

In the first quarter, compensation expenses stood at $ 4.4 billion. The entity has also declared a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per common share.