Bryant Riley appears to have found a winning combination.

His namesake brokerage and investment bank, B. Riley & Co. in West Los Angeles, went public earlier this year as part of a reverse merger with Woodland Hills property appraisal and liquidation company Great American Group Inc., which had been public since 2009.

The combined company recently changed its name to B. Riley Financial Inc. and its ticker symbol to “RILY.” The stock trades – thinly – over the counter. But after the company announced earnings last week, it’s been on the rise.

Shares of B. Riley jumped 13 percent during the week ended Nov. 12 to close at $9, making the company one of the biggest gainers on the LABJ Stock Index. (See Page 60.)

Riley said current trends have provided a somewhat unexpected boon for the combined entity: Merger and acquisition deals are booming, which is good for investment banks, while brick-and-mortar retailers are taking it on the chin from e-commerce businesses, which means good business for liquidators.

“When we thought about the two companies together, we viewed them as countercyclical,” Riley said. “Great American went public and made a lot of money in 2008 when the markets were horrible. In general, it’s rare to see this dynamic. It’s a unique period right now.”

After markets closed Nov. 6, B. Riley reported a net loss of $900,000 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, which included a $2.5 million restructuring charge, compared with net income of $400,000 for both companies in the third quarter of last year. But the company also announced it would begin paying a quarterly dividend, starting with a payment of 3 cents a share early next month.

Riley warned against reading too much into the stock movement, as the company remains very lightly traded, with only 200 shares changing hands Nov. 6 and none the previous day. But he also said cost savings and synergies since the combination have been better than he expected.

“What we’ve been able to demonstrate over the past four months is the ability to do business with customers across both platforms,” he said. “We’ve been able to take some of the companies we do research for and have them look at Great American’s appraisal services. Taking a retailer that’s troubled and having them look at B. Riley’s investment banking services.”