Rockwater Capital Corp., parent company of brokerage firm First Associates Investments Inc., on Tuesday reported a loss for the first quarter ended March 31.

The loss for the first quarter was $2.9 million, or 3¢ per share on revenue of $20.9 million compared to a loss of $0.9 million, or 0.03¢ per share on revenue of $1.1 million in the first quarter of 2002.

The results include a one-time charge of $1.1 million relating to employment arrangements associated with the acquisition of Yorkton’s Private Client business.

According to the firm, results for the first quarter of 2002 are not considered comparable to previous results as they represent activities prior to Rockwater’s redirection in the summer of 2002. Since that time, Rockwater has completed numerous acquisitions and financings to capitalize on opportunities in Canada’s financial services industry.

“Our progress in building the firm is encouraging,” said Robert Schultz, chairman of Rockwater. “In what continues to be a difficult industry environment, our revenues are now annualizing at more than $83 million. Our loss before amortization and income tax recovery of $515,000 in this transition quarter is reasonable in context of the firm’s aggressive growth strategy and the continued underperformance of the markets.”

“We are very pleased with the growth and progress of all of our businesses so far this year,” said Bill Packham, president and CEO of Rockwater. “Our Investment Banking and Research groups significantly upgraded their capabilities. To date we have added $7 million of annualized investment advisor revenue to our Wealth Management business. The benefit of this, however, will be realized in the second half of the year as these investment advisors transition their businesses to First Associates. We are comfortable that we will achieve our goal for the year of adding between 50 and 80 quality investment advisors to our team.”

“Internally, our focus has been on the integration of our predecessor firms,” said Bill Fulton, Rockwater’s chief operating officer. “While not fully reflected in the first quarter results, we have already identified $2.8 million of annualized revenue initiatives and cost savings by eliminating duplications, leveraging the economies of scale available to us and changing our practices.”