US investment banking boutique Greenhill & Co outperformed expectations to deliver multi-million dollar profits in the third quarter, a period in which it landed a role advising on a $5bn (€3.3bn) energy deal and was also handed its biggest UK equities contract to date.

Net profits at Greenhill hit $30.1m in the three months to the end of September, according to its results for the period released yesterday, helping it recover from a net loss of $12.2m in the same quarter last year.