Franklin Resources says new assets push up profit

Franklin Resources says $12.2B in new assets pushed up fourth-quarter profit

• On 1:12 pm EDT, Tuesday October 27, 2009

SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) -- Investment manager Franklin Resources Inc. on Tuesday posted a 22 percent jump in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit as its funds saw a greater inflow of cash.

The company's stock price nevertheless slid $5.18, or 4.6 percent, to $107.84 in afternoon trading, as investors took note of the company's higher expenses from the previous quarter.

For the three months ending Sept. 30, the company earned $367.4 million, or $1.60 per share. That compared to an income of $300.5 million, or $1.28 per share, in the year ago period.

Quarterly revenue was $1.24 billion, compared to $1.32 billion last year.

The performance beat Wall Street expectations. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of $1.33 a share on revenue of $1.21 billion.

For the quarter, Franklin Resources said it took in $12.2 billion in new flows, largely as the result of higher inflow to its global fixed-income fund.

The company reported that expenses grew from the previous quarter.

Costs rose for expenses including advertising, compensation and benefits, underwriting and distribution. Total operating expenses were $845.2 million, compared to $747.4 million in the second quarter.

However, expenses were down from $909.5 million in the year-ago period.

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