Sotheby's, the only major publicly traded auction house, announced that it lost $29.7 million in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, compared to a $19.4 million loss during the same period last year.
That loss amounted to $0.44 per share, slightly larger than the $0.35-per-share loss that experts had estimated, according to Business Insider.
Traditionally, Sotheby’s loses money in the third quarter since auctions and private sales are scare during the summer months. Less than 10 percent of auction sales typically takes place in the quarter, according to the house.
In a release to press, Sotheby’s emphasized that its performance this year has been strong, with revenues and income up–20 percent and 55 percent, respectively–over the first nine months of the year.
“Consolidated sales for the first nine months are up 36 percent to $3.8 billion,” Sotheby’s president and CEO Bill Ruprecht said in a statement, emphasizing that its Impressionist sales in New York performed well last week.
