NEW YORK (AP) — The summer's volatile markets took a toll on AllianceBernstein, shaving revenue by 15 percent. Lower expenses, however, enabled the asset manager to more than double third-quarter profit.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, AllianceBernstein Holding LP posted net income of $27 million, or 26 cents per unit, compared with $12.2 million, or 12 cents per unit, in the year-ago quarter.
Adjusted for a series of items, the company said it earned 30 cents per unit in the recent quarter.
Revenue fell to $641.1 million, from $757.6 million last year. The drop was attributed to lower fees as assets declined.
Analysts, on average, expected adjusted earnings of 29 cents per share, on revenue of $681.5 million, according to data provided by FactSet.
AllianceBernstein Holding is the publicly traded portion of AllianceBernstein, unit of French insurer AXA. The public portion owns about 38 percent of the company, while AXA owns the remaining 63 percent.
Operating expenses fell 19 percent from the prior year to $564 million.
"The third quarter of 2011 was one of extreme volatility and uncertainty in the global markets," said Chairman and CEO Peter Kraus. Europe's sovereign debt crisis, the U.S. debt ceiling debate and resulting S&P downgrade, and weakening in the U.S. economy hit the markets hard, he said. "These conditions sidelined many investors."
AllianceBernstein saw a decline in both gross sales and client redemptions as the S&P 500 dropped 14 percent in the quarter. Assets under management were down 16 percent from a year ago, to $402 billion from $477.5 billion. Net outflows were $15.4 billion.
AllianceBernstein shares fell 14 cents to $14.12 in morning trading. The stock has traded between $12.56 and $26.55 in the past 52 weeks.
