Third Quarter 2025 Net Income Attributable to Cohen & Company Inc. of $4.6 Million, or $2.58 per Diluted Share
Third Quarter 2025 Adjusted Pre-Tax Income of $16.4 Million, or $2.71 per Diluted Share
Board Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 per Share
PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK, Nov. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cohen & Company Inc. (NYSE:COHN), a financial services firm specializing in an expanding range of capital markets and asset management services, today reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2025.
Summary Operating Results
Three Months Ended
Nine Months Ended
($ in thousands)
9/30/25
6/30/25
9/30/24
9/30/25
9/30/24
Net trading
$
13,560
$
10,757
$
8,816
$
33,528
$
27,462
Asset management
1,948
2,168
2,147
6,136
6,942
New issue and advisory
228,008
37,411
22,459
298,658
53,347
Principal transactions and other revenue
(159,303
)
9,535
(1,727
)
(165,498
)
(26,694
)
Total revenues
84,213
59,871
31,695
172,824
61,057
Compensation and benefits
53,684
44,323
17,915
119,673
43,453
Non-compensation operating expenses
8,769
8,053
6,558
23,789
20,124
Operating income (loss)
21,760
7,495
7,222
29,362
(2,520
)
Interest expense, net
(1,472
)
(1,496
)
(1,256
)
(4,416
)
(4,347
)
Gain on sale of management contracts
1,897
837
-
2,734
-
Income (loss) from equity method affiliates
(12,663
)
(1,437
)
(683
)
(11,682
)
22,366
Income (loss) before income tax expense (benefit)
9,522
5,399
5,283
15,998
15,499
Income tax expense (benefit)
733
771
142
1,643
435
Net income (loss)
8,789
4,628
5,141
14,355
15,064
Less: Net income (loss) attributable to the non-convertible non-controlling interest
(6,853
)
(141
)
(2,455
)
(7,167
)
8,609
Enterprise net income (loss)
15,642
4,769
7,596
21,522
6,455
Less: Net income (loss) attributable to the convertible non-controlling interest
11,049
3,361
5,446
15,192
4,631
Net income (loss) attributable to Cohen & Company Inc.
$
4,593
$
1,408
$
2,150
$
6,330
$
1,824
Fully diluted net income (loss) per share
$
2.58
$
0.81
$
1.31
$
3.61
$
1.12
Adjusted pre-tax income (loss) (1)
$
16,375
$
5,540
$
7,738
$
23,165
$
6,890
Fully diluted adjusted pre-tax income (loss) per share (1)
$
2.71
$
0.94
$
1.34
$
3.90
$
1.20
(1) Adjusted pre-tax income (loss) and adjusted pre-tax income (loss) per share are not measures recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). See Note 1 below. Lester Brafman, Chief Executive Officer of Cohen & Company, said, "Our third quarter results were driven by continued strong performance from our full-service boutique investment banking division, Cohen & Company Capital Markets ("CCM"). During the quarter, CCM generated $68.6 million of net revenue, comprised of $228.0 million in advisory revenue across 18 clients, partially offset by negative principal transactions revenue of $159.4 million from investment assets received as CCM client consideration. Supported by its strong pipeline of transactions, CCM is well positioned to deliver an exceptional performance through the end of the year and enter 2026 with significant momentum. Going forward we will continue to focus on being the advisor of choice to the growth and frontier technology sectors of the economy."
Brafman continued, "In addition, the declining interest rate environment has bolstered our trading revenue, which was up 26% in the third quarter from the previous quarter, with increased revenue across most of our trading desks. We expect this trend will continue, providing additional opportunities to enhance net trading revenue."
Brafman concluded, "Based on what we have seen in trading revenue and our CCM pipeline thus far, we believe that we will generate more than $50 million in revenue in the fourth quarter and more than $220 million in revenue for full year 2025. We remain confident in our future earnings potential and are committed to driving long-term, sustainable value for our stockholders, including through quarterly dividends."
Financial Highlights
Net income attributable to Cohen & Company Inc. was $4.6 million, or $2.58 per diluted share, for the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to net income of $1.4 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, for the three months ended June 30, 2025, and net income of $2.2 million, or $1.31 per diluted share, for the three months ended September 30, 2024. Adjusted pre-tax income was $16.4 million, or $2.71 per diluted share, for the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to adjusted pre-tax income of $5.5 million, or $0.94 per diluted share, for the three months ended June 30, 2025, and adjusted pre-tax income of $7.7 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, for the three months ended September 30, 2024. Adjusted pre-tax income (loss) and adjusted pre-tax income (loss) per diluted share are not measures recognized under GAAP. See Note 1 below.
Revenue was $84.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $59.9 million for the prior quarter and $31.7 million for the prior year quarter.
Net trading revenue was $13.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, up $2.8 million from the prior quarter and up $4.7 million from the prior year quarter. The increase from both prior quarters was due to higher trading revenue from the majority of the Company's trading desks.
Asset management revenue was $1.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, down $0.2 million from both the prior quarters. The change from both the prior quarters was related primarily to the closing of the sale of all of the Company's legacy Alesco CDO management contracts in 2025.
New issue and advisory revenue was $228.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, up $190.6 million from the prior quarter and up $205.5 million from the prior year quarter. CCM generated $228.0 million, $37.4 million, and $21.4 million of the new issue and advisory revenue in 3Q25, 2Q25, and 3Q24, respectively. From time to time, CCM receives financial instruments in lieu of cash as consideration for advisory, underwriting, and new issue placement services provided. The fair value of the financial instruments received is recorded as new issue and advisory revenue at the time it is received using the share price on the day after the transaction closes. Any subsequent changes in the share price are recorded as principal transactions revenue. Certain financial instruments are subject to transfer and selling restrictions, thus are not able to be immediately monetized. During the three months ended September 30, 2025, the financial instruments received as CCM client consideration generated negative principal transactions revenue of $159.4 million.
Principal transactions and other revenue was negative $159.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to positive $9.5 million in the prior quarter and negative $1.7 million in the prior year quarter. The portion of total principal transactions revenue that related to investment assets received from CCM clients was negative $159.4 million, positive $6.7 million, and negative $4.0 million in 3Q25, 2Q25, and 3Q24, respectively.
Compensation and benefits expense during the three months ended September 30, 2025 increased $9.4 million from the prior quarter and increased $35.8 million from the prior year quarter, primarily due to fluctuations in revenue and the related variable incentive compensation. The number of Company employees was 124 as of September 30, 2025, compared to 118 as of June 30, 2025, and 113 as of September 30, 2024.
Interest expense during the three months ended September 30, 2025 was $1.5 million, including $1.2 million on our trust preferred securities debt, $0.2 million on our senior promissory notes, and $41 thousand on our bank credit facility.
Gain on sale of management contracts for the three months ended September 30, 2025 was $1.9 million, which resulted from the closing of the sale of the Company's final three legacy Alesco CDO management contracts. The Company has completed the sale of the legacy Alesco CDO managements contracts and there will be no future asset management revenue from the Company's legacy Alesco CDOs.
Loss from equity method affiliates for the three months ended September 30, 2025 was $12.7 million, compared to $1.4 million for the prior quarter and $0.7 million for the prior year quarter. The loss from equity method affiliates in the current quarter was primarily due to mark-to-market losses on one of the Company's SPAC Series Fund investments. Note that the $12.7 million loss from equity method affiliates in the current quarter was offset by a $6.9 million credit recorded in the net income (loss) attributable to the non-convertible non-controlling interest line item.
Income tax expense for the three months ended September 30, 2025 was $0.7 million, compared to income tax expense of $0.8 million in the prior quarter, and income tax expense of $0.1 million in the prior year quarter. The Company will continue to evaluate its operations on a quarterly basis and may adjust the valuation allowance applied against the Company's net operating loss and net capital loss tax assets. Future adjustments could be material and may result in additional tax benefit or tax expense.
Total Equity and Dividend Declaration
As of September 30, 2025, total equity was $101.1 million, compared to $90.3 million as of December 31, 2024; the non-convertible non-controlling interest component of total equity was $3.9 million as of September 30, 2025 and $11.5 million as of December 31, 2024. Thus, the total equity excluding the non-convertible non-controlling interest component was $97.1 million as of September 30, 2025, an $18.3 million increase from $78.8 million as of December 31, 2024.
The Company's Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on December 3, 2025, to stockholders of record as of November 19, 2025. The Board of Directors will continue to evaluate the dividend policy each quarter, and future decisions regarding dividends may be impacted by quarterly operating results and the Company's capital needs.
Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), today, November 4, 2025, to discuss these results. The conference call will be available via webcast. Interested parties can access the webcast by clicking the webcast link on the Company's homepage at www.cohenandcompany.com. Those wishing to listen to the conference call with operator assistance can dial (877) 524-8416 (domestic) or +1 (412) 902-1028 (international). A replay of the call will be available for three days following the call by dialing (877) 660-6853 or (201) 612-7415, with participant passcode 13756943.
About Cohen & Company
Cohen & Company is a financial services company specializing in an expanding range of capital markets and asset management services. Cohen & Company's operating segments are Capital Markets, Asset Management, and Principal Investing. The Capital Markets segment consists of fixed income sales, trading, gestation repo financing, new issue placements in corporate and securitized products, underwriting, and advisory services, operating primarily through Cohen & Company's subsidiaries, Cohen & Company Securities, LLC ("Cohen Securities") in the United States and Cohen & Company Financial (Europe) S.A. in Europe. A division of Cohen Securities, Cohen & Company Capital Markets ("CCM") is the Company's full-service boutique investment bank that focuses on mergers and acquisitions ("M&A"), capital markets, and SPAC advisory services. The Capital Markets business segment also includes investment returns on financial instruments that the Company has received as consideration for advisory, underwriting, and new issue placement services provided by CCM. The Asset Management segment manages assets through collateralized debt obligations, managed accounts, joint ventures, and investment funds. As of September 30, 2025, the Company had approximately $1.4 billion of assets under management in primarily fixed income assets in a variety of asset classes including European bank and insurance trust preferred securities, debt issued by small and medium sized European, U.S., and Bermudian insurance and reinsurance companies, equity interests of SPACs and their sponsor entities, and commercial real estate loans. The Principal Investing segment is comprised primarily of investments the Company holds related to its SPAC franchise and other investments the Company has made for the purpose of earning an investment return rather than investments made to support its trading or other capital markets business activity. For more information, please visit www.cohenandcompany.com.
Note 1: Adjusted pre-tax income (loss) and adjusted pre-tax income (loss) per share are non-GAAP measures of performance. Please see the discussion under "Non-GAAP Measures" below. Also see the tables below for the reconciliations of non-GAAP measures of performance to their corresponding GAAP measures of performance.
Forward-looking Statements
This communication contains certain statements, estimates, and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates, and forecasts are "forward-looking statements." In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "seek," or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this communication are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, those discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition" in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which are available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and our website at www.cohenandcompany.com/investor-relations/sec-filings. Such risk factors include the following: (a) a decline in general economic conditions or the global financial markets, including those caused by inflation, raising interest rates, and the current geopolitical situation, (b) unfavorable market conditions may lead to a reduction in revenues from our new issue and advisory revenues, including from underwriting and placement activities, (c) losses caused by financial or other problems experienced by third parties, (d) losses due to unidentified or unanticipated risks, (e) a lack of liquidity, i.e., ready access to funds for use in our businesses, (f) the ability ...
