Exhibit 99.1
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News |
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Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. |
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World Headquarters
4 World Financial Center
New York, New York 10080 |
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Release date: October 5, 2007 |
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For information contact: |
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Media Relations:
Jessica Oppenheim (212) 449-2107
Jessica_Oppenheim@ml.com
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Investor Relations:
Sara Furber (866) 607-1234
Investor_Relations@ml.com |
MERRILL LYNCH SAYS CREDIT MARKET CONDITIONS
TO ADVERSELY IMPACT THIRD QUARTER 2007 RESULTS
NEW YORK, October 5 Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) today announced that
challenging credit market conditions will have an adverse impact on its net earnings for the third
quarter. The company expects to report a net loss per diluted share of up to $0.50, resulting from
significant negative mark-to-market adjustments to its positions in two specific asset classes:
collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and sub-prime mortgages; and leveraged finance commitments.
These mark-to-market adjustments primarily affect Merrill Lynchs Fixed Income, Currencies &
Commodities (FICC) business. The company expects to report revenue growth in excess of 20% over
the 2006 third quarter in each of its other major business lines: Equity Markets (excluding the
firms private equity business), Investment Banking and Global Wealth Management. Merrill Lynch
expects to report a solid revenue performance from the rest of its FICC business, considering
market conditions, and expects strong performance from its operations outside the U.S., led by the
Pacific Rim region.
Despite solid underlying performances in most of our businesses in the third quarter, the
impact of this difficult market was much more severe in certain of our FICC businesses than we
expected earlier in the quarter, said Stan ONeal, chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch. While market conditions were extremely difficult and the degree of sustained dislocation
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unprecedented, we are disappointed in our performance in structured finance and mortgages. We can
do a better job in managing this risk, as we have done with other asset classes, including
leveraged finance, interest rate and foreign exchange trading, equity trading, principal
investments and commodities.
Merrill Lynch noted that Senior Vice President David Sobotka, (50), was promoted to the
position of global head of FICC earlier in the week. Mr. Sobotka had been head of the groups
global commodities unit since 2004, when Merrill Lynch acquired Entergy-Koch, L.P.s trading
businesses, where he had been president.
David Sobotka is a strong leader with a proven track record, said Mr. ONeal. He has
gained a reputation as one of our most collaborative senior executives, a strong risk manager and a
key contributor to the overall Global Markets & Investment Banking (GMI) franchise. I have every
confidence in his ability to lead the entire FICC organization and make an even greater
contribution to Merrill Lynch in the coming years.
The primary drivers of the FICC net losses in the third quarter were as follows:
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Write-downs of an estimated $4.5 billion, net of hedges, related to incremental third
quarter market impact on the value of CDOs and sub-prime mortgages. These valuation
adjustments reflect in part significant dislocations in the highest-rated tranches of these
securities which were affected by an unprecedented move in credit spreads and a lack of
market liquidity in these securities, which intensified during the third quarter. During
the quarter, the company significantly reduced its overall exposure to these asset classes. |
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Write-downs of an estimated $967 million on a gross basis, and $463 million net of
related underwriting fees, related to all corporate and financial sponsor, non-investment
grade lending commitments, regardless of the expected timing of funding or closing. These
commitments totaled $31 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2007, a net reduction of
42% from $53 billion at the end of the second quarter. The net losses related to these
commitments were limited through aggressive and effective risk management, including
disciplined and selective underwriting and exposure reductions through syndication, sales
and transaction restructurings. |
Although the outlook for fourth quarter revenues remains difficult to predict, we continue to
see evidence of strong long-term growth trends in each of our global businesses. While it is very
early
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in the current quarter and despite continued challenges in structured finance, we are
beginning to see signs of a return to more normal activity levels in a number of markets. Given
our strong core operating performance and solid market, liquidity and capital positions, we are
confident in our ability to deliver superior returns to shareholders over the long-term, Mr.
ONeal concluded.
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Merrill Lynch will report third quarter results on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 and Jeff
Edwards, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will host a conference call that day at
10:00 a.m. (ET) to review the results with the investment community. The general public is invited
to listen to the call by dialing (888) 810-0245 (inside the United States and Canada) or (706)
634-0180 (outside the United States), or via a live audio webcast at www.ir.ml.com.
On-demand webcast replay will be available shortly after the call at the same web address.
Additional information, including supplemental questions and answers will be posted later today on
www.ir.ml.com.
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Merrill Lynch is one of the worlds leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory
companies with offices in 38 countries and territories and total client assets of approximately
$1.7 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global trader and underwriter of securities
and derivatives across a broad range of asset classes and serves as a strategic advisor to
corporations, governments, institutions and individuals worldwide. Merrill Lynch owns approximately
half of BlackRock, one of the worlds largest publicly traded investment management companies with more
than $1 trillion in assets under management. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit
www.ml.com.
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Merrill Lynch may make forward-looking statements, including, for example, statements about
management expectations, strategic objectives, growth opportunities, business prospects, investment
banking pipelines, anticipated financial results, the impact of off balance sheet arrangements,
significant contractual obligations, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory
investigations and proceedings, and other similar matters. These forward-looking statements are
not statements of historical facts and represent only Merrill Lynchs beliefs regarding future
performance, which is
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inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors, many of which are beyond Merrill
Lynchs control, which affect the operations, performance, business strategy and results and could
cause its actual results and experience to differ materially from the expectations and objectives
expressed in any forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to,
financial market volatility; actions and initiatives taken by current and potential competitors;
general economic conditions; the effect of current, pending and future legislation, regulation, and
regulatory actions; and the other additional factors described in the Risk Factors section of
Merrill Lynchs Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2006 and also
disclosed from time to time in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and 8-K, which are available on
the Merrill Lynch Investor Relations website at www.ir.ml.com and at the SECs website,
www.sec.gov,
Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date on which they are made.
Merrill Lynch does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of
circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements are made. The
reader should, however, consult any further disclosures Merrill Lynch may make in its future filings of
its reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.
Merrill Lynch may also, from time to time, disclose financial information on a non-GAAP basis
where management believes this information will be valuable to investors in gauging the quality of
Merrill Lynchs financial performance and identifying trends.
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