Carlyle profits fall by 11pc as asset sales fall
CARLYLE Group posted an 11 per cent drop in third-quarter profit yesterday as asset sales generated less cash for shareholders than in any other quarter since the alternative asset manager went public.
While Carlyle’s fund portfolio appreciated four per cent in the quarter, compared with three percent a year earlier, it did not take advantage of favorable capital markets to exit investments to the extent some of its peers such as Blackstone Group did.
“We have a public portfolio of about $16bn. This is a pretty good time to be exiting. That does not mean that we will do secondary sales in any of those companies this quarter, but if the time and price is right I think we will,” Carlyle co-chief executive William Conway told analysts on a conference call.
Economic net income (ENI), an earnings measure comprising cash and paper profits or losses based on how funds have been marked to market, declined to $195m in the third quarter from $219m a year earlier. This translated into post-tax ENI per adjusted share of 51 cents, well below the average forecast of analysts of 60 cents.
Carlyle’s pre-tax distributable earnings, which show how much cash is available to pay dividends, were $105m, the lowest total for any quarter since the company went public in May 2012, as Carlyle monetised less of its assets.
The year-earlier figure was $207m. Carlyle declared a third-quarter dividend of 16 cents per share, in line with its dividend policy.