Agency broker ITG reported a loss of $2.5 million in the first quarter as legal costs with its former CEO hit results.
Expenses throughout the first quarter totalled $2.8 million and included “associated legal fees related to the arbitration with ITG’s former CEO [Robert Gasser].”
Gasser sought $13 million after being forced out of the company following a dark pool probe by US regulators in April last year.
Gasser was allegedly “forced out” following ITG’s $20.3 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for running a secret proprietary trading desk inside its dark pool which used confidential client information.
Gasser was replaced in January this year by former JP Morgan head of execution services Francis Troise.
ITG announced a GAAP net loss of $2.5 million in Q1 this year, compared to a GAAP net income of $16.7 million in the first quarter of 2015.
Overall revenues were down 17% in the first quarter this year, reaching $124.7 million compared to $149.7 in Q1 last year.
Troise, chief executive officer and president of ITG, said the business is regaining momentum, although work still needs to be done.
He said: “As we conclude our end-to-end business review in the coming months we will look to make targeted investments to establish our place as the best-in-class provider of execution, liquidity, workflow and measurement solutions to the institutional trading community.”
ITG’s average daily trading volume in the US decreased from 191 million shares in the first quarter in 2015, to 162 million share.
Total average daily value traded through POSIT Alert in Europe was also down 23% in the first quarter this year compared to the same period last year.