LPL Financial today announced a net income of $29 million for the first nine months of 2009, a drop from $43 million for the same time period last year.

But Robert Moore, chief financial officer for LPL, notes that the sag is due largely to the over $42 million in expenses related to the conversion in September of three broker-dealers onto the company’s self-clearing platform.

The three firms involved in the restructuring were Mutual Service of West Palm Beach, Fla., Waterstone Financial Group of Itasca, Ill. and Associated Securities Corp. of El Segundo, Calif. LPL acquired the three broker-dealers in 2007 for $97.1 million in cash. Despite the fact that the restructuring caused a lag in income, Moore believes LPL’s ability to fund the move on its own is proof of its financial strength.

“The fact that we have not needed any governmental assistance and we’ve not needed any additional capital from our [private equity] sponsors or any other source of funding tells you that the underlying strength of our business is very healthy,” Moore told Financial Planning in an interview.

Net income excluding these restructuring charges was $54 million, 25% above net income for the same nine-month period in 2008. LPL’s revenues for the third quarter were $2 billion, down 17% from the $2.4 billion in the third quarter last year. LPL cites market conditions impacting assets under management as the reason for the drop.

In addition, LPL reported a net loss of $1 million for the third quarter that it owes to the restructuring charges. The company had a net income of $17 million in last year’s third quarter. Excluding the restructuring expenses, LPL had a net income of $24 million for the quarter, a 40% increase over the same time period last year. The company’s revenues for the third quarter were $702 million, down 12% from the $800 million it brought in last year. A year-on-year decline in market values is cited as the reason for the decline.