KKR's Profit Rises 29%

KKR & Co. on Thursday said its first-quarter profit rose 29%, as the private-equity firm continued selling stakes in the companies it owns.

The New York firm reported a first-quarter profit of $270.5 million, or 57 cents a share, up from $210 million, or 65 cents a share, in the same period last year.

KKR's first-quarter economic net income was $599.4 million, or 62 cents a share, down from $630.3 million, or 77 cents a share, a year ago. The result topped Wall Street's estimates for the profitability measure, which includes unrealized gains as well as cash earnings. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters anticipated economic net income of 53 cents a share.

Economic net income at the firm's private-equity segment rose 17.1% from a year earlier, buoyed by the sale of stakes in pharmacy company Alliance Boots GmbH to Walgreen Co., Big Heart Pet Brands to J.M. Smucker Co., and Fotolia to Adobe Systems Inc. KKR also booked gains on the sale of stock in Nielsen NV and German forklift truck maker Kion Group AG.

KKR reported assets under management of $99.1 billion, down from $102.3 billion a year ago but up from $98.6 billion at the end of 2014.

Meanwhile, its distributable earnings--the portion of profits in which shareholders can get a slice--were $516.5 million in the first quarter, up 15.6% from the prior year's $446.8 million.

KKR said it would pay a dividend of 46 cents for the quarter, an increase from 43 cents a year ago.

Write to Gillian Tan at [e-mail]

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