Blackstone Group LP on Thursday said its second-quarter profit
declined 74% as the pace of asset sales slowed, yet remained
abundant enough to enable the firm to pay out its
third-highest-ever quarterly dividend.
The New York firm reported second-quarter profit of $134.2
million, or 21 cents a share, down from $517 million, or 85 cents a
share, in the same period last year.
Blackstone's second-quarter economic net income was $508
million, or 43 cents a share, down from $1.3 billion, or $1.15
cents a share, a year ago. The result fell shy of Wall Street's
estimates for the profitability measure, which includes unrealized
gains as well as cash earnings. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters
anticipated economic net income of 47 cents a share.
"We produced solid results for our investors in the second
quarter with strong realization activity despite challenging market
conditions," said Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's chairman and
chief executive.
Blackstone's credit and hedge-fund arms notched higher economic
net income than during the same time a year earlier, while its
private equity and real estate businesses reported results that
declined 74% and 72%, respectively, by that metric. Blackstone's
soon-to-be-spun-out financial-advisory unit was down 58% in
economic net income.
Firmwide, second-quarter fee revenue fell 8% to $590.8.
Blackstone's share of deal proceeds, or performance fees, during
the quarter was $569.7, less than half the $1.4 billion collected
during the same period a year ago.
Blackstone, the world's largest private-equity firm, reported
assets under management of $332.7billion, up from $278.9 billion a
year ago and $310.5 billion at the end of March.
Meanwhile, its distributable earnings—the portion of profits in
which shareholders can get a slice—were $1 billion in the second
quarter, topping the year prior period's $765.2 million.
Blackstone said it would pay a dividend of 74 cents for the
quarter, an increase from 55 cents in the same period a year
earlier.
Blackstone shares closed up 0.6%, or 26 cents, at $41.33 on
Wednesday. The stock is up 22.2% on the year.
Write to Ryan Dezember at ryan.dezember@wsj.com
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