Sotheby’s has released its earnings ahead of this morning’s call with analysts and investors. Earnings for 2016 were down 17% despite the substantially reduced (~15%) number of shares available:

we anticipated fourth quarter 2016 Adjusted EPS to be in line with 2015’s figure and, in the end, we came in 14% higher with Adjusted EPS* of $1.35, driven largely by a number of outstanding fourth quarter sales. For the full year, we reported Adjusted EPS* of $1.71, down 17% from 2015 Adjusted EPS* of $2.07.

Net Sales for the period were down 34% versus the prior period. Auction Commission Margin rose strongly for the fourth consecutive quarter, 18.0% versus last year’s level of 12.9%