PJT Revenue Rebounds as Advisory Work Lifts Margins
Second-quarter revenue rose 20% to a record $486.3 million.
PJT Partners (PJT), the independent advisory firm, reported record second-quarter revenue of $486.3 million as strategic advisory, private capital solutions and restructuring drove a 20% increase from a year earlier. Revenue rebounded 16% from the first quarter, reversing the prior period’s roughly 22% sequential decline.
The quarterly increase amounted to $68.1 million, though year-over-year growth moderated from 29% in the first quarter. The combination pointed to a recovery in activity from the early-year slowdown while comparisons with 2023 became more demanding.
Higher revenue translated into wider profitability. Adjusted pretax margin expanded 200 bps from a year earlier and 160 bps sequentially to 21.7%, while adjusted pretax income rose 32% to $105.6 million.
Adjusted expenses increased 16%, trailing the revenue gain and lowering the adjusted expense ratio to 78.3%. The compensation ratio declined 100 bps from a year earlier to 66.5% and held steady from the first quarter, even as compensation expense rose 18% to $323.4 million alongside higher revenue.
Non-compensation expense increased 10% to $57.3 million as PJT spent on office expansion, travel, senior advisers, technology infrastructure and market data. Those costs absorbed 11.8% of revenue, an improvement of 100 bps year over year and 160 bps quarter over quarter.
PJT slowed its capital return during the quarter, repurchasing 0.5 million shares and equivalents at an average price of $153.10, after deploying $244 million on 1.6 million shares and equivalents in the first quarter. First-half repurchases totaled 2.1 million at an average of $153.81, leaving $760 million under the authorization.
Liquidity strengthened alongside the revenue recovery. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments rose about 38% from the first quarter to a record $535 million and about 68% from a year earlier, while PJT continued to carry no funded debt. The larger cash position and remaining repurchase authorization left the firm with capacity to fund expansion and future capital returns.