Here's some news!
August 03, 1999 11:18
Equitable profits jump 22 percent in quarter
NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Financial services group
Equitable Cos. Inc. on Tuesday said second-quarter operating profits rose 22 percent, buoyed by stronger-than-expected gains in its life insurance and mutual fund businesses.
New York-based Equitable said operating income, excluding
realized gains and losses, was $271.3 million, or $1.22 a
share, compared with $222.3 million, or 98 cents, in the
year-ago quarter. The Wall Street consensus was $1.14,
according to research firm First Call Corp.
Equitable, which owns investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette and asset manager Alliance Capital Management, said
net income, including an investment gain of $184.1 million and
deferred acquisition charge of $85.6 million, was $381 million,
or $1.66 a share, surpassing profits of $248.8 million, or
$1.06, in the year-earlier period.
Revenues rose 19 percent to $3.51 billion from $2.95
billion. Total assets under management at the end of the
quarter rose 19 percent to a record $390.8 billion. Return on
equity rose a record 19.8 percent.
"These record performances reflect balanced strength
throughout our diversified financial services franchise," Chief
Executive Officer Edward Miller said. "Each of our businesses
contributed to record levels of earnings to these overall
results."
Equitable shares rose 69 cents at $64.94 on the New York
Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
At the insurance operations, after-tax operating earnings
rose 24 percent to $141.3 million. Total sale of life
insurance, annuity and mutual fund products grew 8.1 percent to
a record $3.4 billion.
At investment bank Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette ,
after-tax reported earnings rose 16 percent to $165.7 million
on strong merger and acquisition activity and the successful
initial public offering of its online brokerage DLJdirect
Inc..
After-tax operating earnings at Alliance Capital Management
LP , the largest U.S. publicly traded asset manager,
jumped 28 percent to $97.2 million from $75.8 million in the
year-ago period on robust new sales of funds.
The company will change the name of its holding company to
AXA Financial Inc. by September as part of a change in branding
strategy, and will change its stock symbol to AXF. French
insurer AXA owns 60 percent of Equitable. |
