BLK BlackRock Inc

Legg Mason Inc. swung to a loss in its most recent quarter, the latest asset manager to report results bruised by volatile markets.

"Macro headwinds negatively impacted operating results for the quarter, which were disappointing in terms of long-term flows and financial performance," Chief Executive Joseph Sullivan said.

Mr. Sullivan said the company made progress during the quarter in transforming its portfolio, an effort it began several years ago to diversify the business. Earlier this year, Legg Mason merged EnTrust Capital into its fund-of-hedge-funds business Permal Group, bought a stake in Precidian Investments and took a majority stake in real-estate specialist Clarion Partners LLC.

In the quarter ended March 31, Legg Mason's assets under management slipped 0.3% from the end of December to $669.6 million. From a year earlier, assets under management fell 5% on $13.2 billion in outflows.

The Baltimore-based firm reported a loss of $45.3 million, or 43 cents a share, down from a year-earlier profit of $83 million, or 73 cents a share. Excluding acquisition-related costs and a compensation charge, among other items, Legg Mason's loss was 15 cents a share compared with a gain of $1.03 in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue fell 12% to $619.5 million. Analysts expected an adjusted loss of 47 cents a share on $631.9 million in revenue.

Legg Mason isn't alone in feeling the pain of markets' turbulent start to the year. BlackRock Inc. and Franklin Resources Inc. have recently moved to cut jobs, and BlackRock's Laurence Fink recently expressed increasing concerns about the global economy in his annual letter to shareholders.

Shares in Legg Mason, down 37% over the past 12 years, were inactive during premarket trading.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2016 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)

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