Including a loss from discontinued operations, net of tax, net income was $800,000, compared to $5.18 million in 2010.

Revenues were $42.9 million for the fourth quarter, up from $35.4 million a year earlier. Expenses rose from $32.3 million to $37.5 million.

"Our assets under management increased to $16.3 billion from $15.8 billion three months earlier. Our Edelman Financial Services division brought in $228 million of net new client assets in the period. It, our largest division - accounting for approximately 43 per cent of pretax income - had earnings that were well above budget, as were those of our other wealth management businesses,” said George Ball, chairman and co-chief executive.

Last year Sanders Morris Harris changed its name to The Edelman Financial Group, aligning itself more closely with the Edelman Financial Services business, 76 per cent of which SMHG acquired in 2005.

Ric Edelman, president and co-CEO said: “We now have 30 branches, including eight opened late last year. That expansion penalized earnings by $0.03 a share last quarter. Our first cluster of six offices, opened in metropolitan New York in September 2009, earned $321,000 pretax last quarter, with client assets of $500 million, up 69 per cent since the end of 2010. The other wealth management units also increased earnings by 17 per cent compared to last year.”

For the full year, the group earned $13.7 million or $0.46 per share from core operations, compared to $4.3 million or $0.15 per share in the prior year.