'Global credit crisis' drives FTI Consulting's 1Q profits

Not everyone is suffering in the credit crisis.

Baltimore-based corporate advisory firm FTI Consulting continues to prosper as clients seek its advice on withstanding the market turmoil, growing first-quarter earnings per share by nearly two-thirds.

FTI (NYSE: FCN) reported record first-quarter earnings of $31 million, or 59 cents per share. On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for 47 cents per share. In the same period a year ago, FTI earned $15 million, or 36 cents per share.

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Revenue rose by more than a third from a year ago to $307 million.

"The global credit crisis in its various forms continued to be a significant driver of work across all of our business segments," FTI CEO Jack Dunn said in a news release Wednesday.

The firm's technology segment posted the highest growth rate, with revenue rising by 71 percent from a year ago to $57 million.

FTI's well-known corporate finance and restructuring practice grew revenue by 28 percent to $79 million, mostly from restructuring in the subprime mortgage, housing and financial markets. Now, the restructuring business is starting to see more demand from sectors that touch on housing, from building materials to retail and consumer durable goods.

The economic consulting segment grew revenue by 41 percent to $56 million, with business coming from credit problems and strategic mergers in troubled sectors such as airlines. FTI is also seeing new consulting assignments related to private equity deals where the buyer could not or would not get the deal done at its original price, officials said.

FTI completed seven acquisitions during the quarter and has done two more since the quarter ended.

With all that growth, FTI has spent the last six months working on a new five-year plan. Its goals for 2012 include growing annual revenue to $2.5 billion and producing roughly a third of its revenue from international operations. The plan has "a proper mix of aggressiveness and achievability," Dunn said in the news release.

FTI expects to produce at least $1.3 billion in revenue this year and predicts earnings per share of $2.50 to $2.63.

FTI has more than 3,000 employees in many of the world's major cities.