Ameriprise Operating Earnings Fall on Equity-Market Dislocation

   By Josh Beckerman 
 

Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) said operating earnings fell 8% in the first quarter as dislocation in equity markets hurt revenue.

The financial-services company said "client activity slowed given the markets," but said it had solid inflows in fee-based accounts. The company saw the benefits of "disciplined expense control," as operating expenses fell 2%.

Ameriprise increased its quarterly dividend to 75 cents from 67 cents. A year ago, the company boosted its payout from 58 cents.

For the quarter ended March 31, net income was $364 million, or $2.09 a share, compared with $393 million, or $2.08 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 9.4% to $2.77 billion from $3.05 billion.

Operating earnings, which exclude realized gains and losses, market effects on variable annuity benefits and other items, fell to $378 million, or $2.17 a share, from $412 million, or $2.18 a share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share operating profit of $2.18 and revenue of $2.9 billion.

At the end of the period, total assets under management and administration were $773 billion and the company had 9,766 total advisers.

In after-hours trading, Ameriprise shares were flat at $101.07.

Ameriprise was spun off from American Express Co. in September 2005.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2016 18:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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