Blackstone Profit Drops on `Challenging, Volatile` Markets

Blackstone Group LP said on Thursday its fourth-quarter profit tumbled as whipsawing markets took a toll across its business.

The New York private-equity firm reported a fourth-quarter profit of $201 million, or 23 cents a share, down from $551 million, or 89 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.

Blackstone's fourth-quarter economic net income fell to $436 million, or 37 cents a share, from $1.45 billion, or $1.25 a share, a year earlier. The result missed Wall Street's 46-cent forecast for the profitability measure, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.

Economic net income includes unrealized gains as well as cash earnings.

Results slumped across all of Blackstone's businesses, paced by an 87% drop in the economic net income of its credit division. Stocks, high-yield bonds and commodities declined in 2015 after years of strong gains for many assets, in part due to China's slowdown and investors' worries about central banks' ability to continue bolstering global economies.

Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman acknowledged markets were "challenging and volatile" during the period but said the firm put a record $32 billion into new investments last year as the tumult created new buying opportunities.

Blackstone reported assets under management of $336.4 billion, up from $290.4 billion a year ago and $333.9 billion at the end of September.

Its distributable earnings, the portion of profits in which shareholders would get a slice, were $878 million in the fourth quarter, compared with the prior-year period's $1.13 billion.

Blackstone said it would pay a dividend of 61 cents for the quarter, versus 78 cents for the prior year.

Blackstone shares closed down 2.6%, or 69 cents, at $25.60 Wednesday. The stock is down along with those of peers of late, falling 41% from its record-high close in May.

Write to Matt Jarzemsky at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 28, 2016 08:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

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