Global art sales for 2011 may be up $2 billion compared to 2010 thanks mostly to the Chinese market, but Sotheby's suffered a 4th quarter drop in profits due to a slow down in auction sales.
The New York company’s net income fell to $71.5 million from $96.2 million a year earlier. It earned $1.04 a share, less than the average $1.25 estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Quarterly revenue fell 11 percent, to $284 million. A year earlier, Sotheby’s had its most profitable quarter since 2008. Sotheby’s shares fell 62 cents today to $39.34 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They’re up 38 percent this year, more than four times the gain of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The shares declined 20 percent in the past 52 weeks.source: Bloomberg
