Raymond James profits up 90%

ST. PETERSBURG — Raymond James Financial Inc. (symbol: RJF) earned $81.7 million in net income on $813.8 million in net revenues in the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year. Those numbers are up 90% and 18% respectively compared to last year's first quarter.

Both numbers represent record marks for the financial firm, according to CEO Paul Reilly.

“We continue to see a slow, but steady, improvement in the economy which augurs well for continued growth in our earnings potential,” Reilly said in a prepared statement.

The company's brokerage business, known internally as the Private Client Group, generated $519.4 million in net revenues, a 14% increase in net revenues compared to the same quarter last year. That represents roughly 63% of all of Raymond James' business last quarter.

Tom James, executive chairman of Raymond James Financial Inc., was profiled in a December issue of the Business Review, and was named to the Review's Power 50 list earlier this month. At the end of 2010, the company acquired a brokerage firm based in Chicago.