Net income totalled $9.06m, a significant improvement from the loss of $24.7m in the same period last year. Of the profit, $8.04m was paid in dividends, which resulted in a net income of $783,000 being applicable to common shareholders.

The results are a big turnaround for the firm, which made a net loss of $97m in the fourth quarter of 2009, which ended on March 31. Jon Corzine took over as chief executive and chairman on March 24, replacing Bernie Dan.

Net revenue for the most recent quarter was $289.4m, up 6.6% year on year. MF Global attributed the rise to higher exchange volumes, widening spreads and increased customer activity.

The company reduced headcount by about 12% during the three month period, which meant that employee compensation constituted a smaller proportion of total revenue. Pay and benefits came to $155.4m, down from $171.6m in the same period last year. It was therefore just 53.7% of total revenue, down from 63.2% in the same period last year. These figures exclude non-recurring IPO awards.

Non-compensation expense also fell to $91.4m from $111.3m in the same quarter last year.

Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey and CEO of Goldman Sachs, said in a statement: “In my first 100 days, MF Global has taken proactive steps to more closely align our compensation structure with industry best practices and shareholder interests, in addition to improving our capital structure and enhancing our value proposition by expanding client facilitation activities.”

But he said the results were “only a first step toward realising MF Global’s full potential”.

He said the company was “implementing initial steps to integrate and enhance [its] retail offering”. It is also “reviewing ways in which we can better serve our institutional clients through a broader set of risk intermediation functions and products combined with focused market research”.

During the quarter, the firm completed an underwritten public offering of 22.5m shares of its common stock, at a price to the public of $7.10 a share. The underwriters exercised an option to buy an extra 3.4m shares of common stock for sale to the public. MF Global therefore raised $174.4m, net of some $10m of underwriting discount and other costs.

Sian Williams +44 207 779 8370 swilliams@fow.com