BlackRock’s results benefit from bull run for equity markets
THE WORLD’S largest money manager BlackRock yesterday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit, benefiting from strong markets and a flow of new money into its exchange-traded funds.
The New York-based company said fourth-quarter net income, a measure of profits, rose 24 per cent to $841m (£514.68m) while revenues increased nine per cent to $2.8bn.
BlackRock has benefited from increased investor appetite for the less-expensive indexed funds provided by iShares, which the company acquired from Barclays in 2009 and is now the largest US provider of ETFs.
IShares now accounts for about 21 per cent of the company’s assets under management.
The bulk of investor money during the quarter went into equities, which accounted for $24.7bn, or roughly 61 per cent, of BlackRock’s long-term net inflows.
Fixed-income funds had net inflows of $1.5bn.