Earnings reports released today include:
• State Street Global Advisors reported assets under management of $1.374 trillion as of March 31, up 1.5% from the previous quarter and 11% higher than the year before, on the back of both net inflows and market appreciation. Investment management fees came to $177 million for the first quarter, up 20% from $147 million for the first quarter of 2004. Parent company State Street Corp. reported net income of $226 million, up 4% from $217 million a year ago.
• Mellon Financial's assets under management reached a record $729 billion at the end of the first quarter, up from $707 billion for the fourth quarter and $679 billion a year earlier. Assets under custody also reached a record $3.29 trillion, up from $3.23 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter and $2.82 billion a year ago. Net income rose to $255 million as of March 31 on revenue of $1.18 billion, from $192 million on revenue of $1.01 billion in the fourth quarter. Mellon earned $245 million on revenue of $1.03 billion in the first quarter of 2004. "In the first quarter, we were able to demonstrate strong net flows in our institutional asset management businesses, a strong quarter for private wealth management, increased client volumes in securities lending and foreign exchange and significant wins in asset servicing," said Martin G. McGuinn, chairman and CEO of Mellon Financial, in a news release.
• Northern Trust Corp.'s assets under management increased to $589 billion for the first quarter, from $572 billion in the fourth quarter and $521 billion a year ago. Assets under custody rose to a record $2.62 trillion, from $2.55 trillion in the prior quarter and $2.02 trillion a year ago. Net income was $139.1 million as of March 31, up from $132.6 million in the fourth quarter and $127.5 million a year earlier. First-quarter revenue rose to $621.1 million from $603.1 million in the previous quarter and $578.2 million a year ago. "This performance was driven by record fee income, strong net interest income growth and disciplined cost management," William A. Osborn, the company's chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
• Merrill Lynch Investment Managers reported assets under management of $479 billion at the end of the first quarter, down 4% from the previous quarter and down 7% from the first quarter of 2004, as outflows from money market funds more than offset net inflows of longer-term assets, according to a news release. Net revenues came to $414 million, up 3% from the year before, while pretax earnings jumped 18% to $127 million for the same period. Parent company Merrill Lynch reported quarterly net earnings of $1.21 billion, down 3% from the firm's record earnings of $1.25 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
• BlackRock reported $391.3 billion in assets under management as of March 31, up $49.6 billion or 15% from the previous quarter and up $70.7 billion or 22% from the first quarter 2004. BlackRock's Jan. 31 acquisition of State Street Research & Management accounted for almost $50 billion of the increase, but solid net inflows for the firm's core fixed-income strategies also contributed, said President and CEO Larry Fink during a conference call. BlackRock's integration of SSRM's operations came in ahead of schedule, and Mr. Fink said he's leaving open the possibility that other acquisitions could follow. BlackRock "isn't looking at anything" just now, but the firm anticipates a lot of consolidation in the money management industry over the next few years and expects "great opportunities for other transactions," said Mr. Fink.
