Invesco delays some hiring as AUM, profit fall

Invesco is delaying some hiring as lower stock and bond prices led its assets under management to fall 4.8% to $1.32 trillion, said Invesco CEO and President Martin Flanagan said during the company's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday.

"Given the uncertain market environment, we are diligently managing expenses and evaluating all aspects of discretionary spending," Mr. Flanagan said. "We continue to invest in our key growth capabilities, and we're focusing near-term hiring in those areas. We will defer hiring for certain other positions as we focus our efforts on critical initiatives."

Executives did not say which parts of Invesco will pause their hiring or how many open positions would be impacted. The company said it will continue hiring in the near term in "key growth areas." Invesco employs more than 8,400 people in more than 20 countries.

A challenging industry backdrop remained throughout the third quarter, as stock and bond prices continued to fall. The S&P 500 and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond indexes were down 4.9% and 4.8%, respectively, in the third quarter.

"Investors continued to react with caution, and sought risk-off trades that impacted industry flows and the level and mix of assets under management," Mr. Flanagan said in a statement about the company's performance.

Although it reported $7.7 billion of net long-term outflows, Invesco said it showed "resilience in key capability areas" with net long-term inflows of $3.7 billion to active fixed-income strategies and $2.1 billion from a joint venture with China. Inflows from institutional investors totaled $3.9 billion.

Invesco reported $1.45 billion in third-quarter revenue, down 5.5% from the second quarter. Third-quarter revenue was down 17.4% from the same period last year.

Operating income rose slightly to $350 million in the third quarter, up 1.6% from the second quarter. But lower assets under management this year have dragged profits with it. Third-quarter operating income was down 24.5% from the same quarter last year.

Lower investment management and other fees were partially offset by lower third-party distribution, service and advisory costs, Invesco said. Foreign-exchange rate changes in the third quarter also caused net revenue to fall by $17 million.