The sluggish market for global mergers and acquisitions dragged revenues at Greenhill & Co down by almost half in the second quarter, compared to a year ago, but the US advisory boutique's chief executive said he is confident that revenues for 2012 will eventually match or better its 2011 figures.

Greenhill yesterday reported second-quarter advisory revenues of $45.1m, 47% lower than those earned in the same period a year ago. This was due to a smaller amount of completed assignments. For the first half of this year, advisory revenues were $118.4m, 12% less than $134.1m in the first six months of 2011.