The Swiss based investment and asset management company Bellevue Group generated operating income of SFr47.5 million in the third quarter of 2007. Excluding the other ordinary income of SFr13.6 million reported in the third quarter of 2006, group operating income in the corresponding year-ago period amounted to SFr27.2 million. On a comparable basis, operating income increased by 74.8 per cent year-on-year. Fee and commission income amounted to SFr45.6 milion, up 83.9 per cent from SFr24.8 million in the year-ago quarter. As in the second quarter, this growth was largely driven by brokerage and corporate finance operations. Asset management earned a performance fee of SFr20.4 million. Bellevue Group closed the third quarter of 2007 with a group profit of SFr23.8 million. Group net profit in the third quarter of the previous year excluding other ordinary income amounted to SFr12.7 million (up 86.7 per cent year-on-year). Personnel expenses increased significantly compared to the third quarter figure of the previous year due to the formation of performance-related bonus provisions. The cost/income ratio of 40 per cent achieved in the third quarter of 2007 is in line with Bellevue Group’s long-term target. Personnel and operating expenses in the third quarter of 2007 amounted to SFr19.2 million (previous year SFr9.7 million, up 98.2 per cent year-on-year). Operating expenses included increased spending on marketing and IT. A net total of 6 employees were recruited in the reporting period. Net profit from continuing activities in the first nine months of 2007 totaled SFr147.6 million, which represents an increase of 147 per cent compared to the same period last year. Group profit for the first three quarters excluding other ordinary income amounted to SFr62.4 million against SFr46 million for the previous year period. This corresponds to a 50.3 per cent growth rate in profit during the first three quarters of the year. The company held client assets of SFr7,206 million as of September 30, 2007, which corresponds to a sequential decline of SFr157 million. At the end of 2006 assets under management on a comparable basis amounted to SFr6,771 million. Bellevue Group employed 79 employees at the end of the third quarter (74.5 expressed as full-time equivalents), an increase of 10.4 compared to the end of 2006.