BLK BlackRock Inc

Lazard Ltd. said second-quarter earnings and revenue slid amid weakness in both its advisory and asset-management businesses.

Whipsawing markets in the early months of 2016 sidelined dealmakers after a record 2015, and rising global economic and political uncertainty continues to give some corporate executives pause. Meanwhile, some asset managers have reported declines in assets under management as skittish investors pull out of risk assets such as equities products.

Lazard Chief Executive Kenneth Jacobs sought to assure investors in April that advisory activity was picking back up, but on Thursday the company said revenue from the segment fell 9% from a year earlier after declining 12% in the first quarter. The result comes in contrast to fellow merger advisory firm Evercore Partners Inc., which said this week that advisory revenue jumped 49% in its latest quarter as it landed more deals.

On the asset management side of Lazard's business, revenue dropped 14% from a year earlier as assets under management fell 5% to $193 billion, pushing fee revenue lower. Lazard's divestiture of its Australian private-equity business also had a negative effect.

Lazard isn't alone in reporting disappointing results in its asset-management business. On Wednesday, Legg Mason Inc. said its second-quarter profit tumbled by nearly two-thirds largely because more investors turned away from active equity and alternative products. Larger rival BlackRock Inc. made similar comments earlier this month.

Overall for the period, Lazard reported a profit of $80 million, or 61 cents a share, down from $374 million, or $2.82 a share, a year earlier. Last year's result included a hefty gain stemming from a deferred tax valuation allowance. Adjusted for that item, among others, per-share profit fell to 61 cents from 98 cents.

Revenue slid 12% to $546.6 million.

Analysts predicted 58 cents in adjusted per-share profit and $545.7 million in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares in the company, down 26% this year, were inactive during premarket trading.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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