Profits jump at BlackRock
BLACKROCK, the world’s largest money manager by assets, busted expectations with a 43 per cent jump in quarterly profit yesterday, thanks to its rapidly growing list of fund styles and asset classes.
The New York-based company has long been known as a fixed-income institutional manager, but chief executive Laurence Fink has pressed into new areas such as exchange traded funds and multi-asset products. Both took in healthy inflows of cash from investors in the three months to 30 June.
Net income rose to $619m (£383m) from $432m a year earlier, BlackRock reported yesterday.
Assets under management were $3.659 trillion at 30 June, up 16 per cent from a year earlier and up 0.3 per cent from the end of the first quarter.
Fink said the results showed his emphasis on new areas is paying off. On a conference call with analysts, he said BlackRock’s broad product mix will lead to a deeper relationship with clients and drive revenue and profits.
“That is our strategy. And our strategy has shown in the second quarter that it is working,” Fink said. Analysts agreed that BlackRock’s gains reflected its wide range of products.