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Our goal is simple — to build on our rich heritage of industry leadership and establish a foundation from which we can continue to invest for growth in revenues and profits while producing strong, consistent financial performance; attract and retain top talent; and, above all, add more value to every client relationship by meeting a broader array of client needs and innovating and executing winning strategies on their behalf.
So, how did we do last year?
We delivered:
- Net revenues of $26.0 billion, up 18% from the $22.1 billion the firm generated in 2004.
- Net earnings of $5.1 billion, the highest the firm has ever reported, up 15% from $4.4 billion in 2004.
- Record earnings per diluted share of $5.16, an 18% increase over $4.38 per share the prior year.
- Pre-tax margin of 27.8%, also a record level.
- Return on common equity (ROE) of 16.0%, up from 14.9% in 2004.
- A 25% increase in the quarterly dividend per common share.
Each of Merrill Lynch's three businesses — Global Markets & Investment Banking (GMI), Global Private Client (GPC) and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) — generated record pre-tax earnings, and year-over-year growth in net revenues. Our focus on geographic diversity is also paying off. Non-U.S. net revenues and pre-tax earnings grew by more than double the rate of those from the U.S. with particularly strong performances from Europe and the Pacific Rim.
In these results, we are starting to see the culmination of a well defined plan to develop a portfolio of businesses that is able to compete and win across economic cycles and across a host of dimensions from client service to the metrics of our financial performance. There is still more work to be done, but I believe we are well on the way to achieving our goal.
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