Blackstone Group LP reported first-quarter profit that beat expectations thanks to strong growth in fee-related earnings, though its results faded compared with a blockbuster quarter a year ago.
The private-equity firm's economic profit, which reflects changes in the value of unrealized investments, fell to $792 million, or 65 cents a share from $967.9 million, or 81 cents a share, a year earlier. This year's figure exceeded the 47-cent consensus estimate of analysts polled by FactSet.
Blackstone's fee-related earnings climbed 14% to $332.9 million.
The private-equity firm's net income fell to $367.9 million, or 53 cents a share, from $451.9 million, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier. A year ago, Blackstone more than doubled its first-quarter profit as the firm took advantage of buoyant markets to sell a record amount of private equity, real estate and other assets.
The firm said it would pay a 35-cent dividend for the quarter, compared with 87 cents for the year-earlier quarter.
Blackstone also said it would use roughly $580 million in proceeds it got from ending its subadvisory relationship with business-development company FS Investments to pay a special dividend of 30 cents a share, which will be distributed over the next three quarters.
The value of Blackstone's private-equity portfolio climbed 6.4% in the quarter. That compares with a 6.8% increase in the prior quarter.
The first quarter offered a bumpy ride for public markets, with the S&P 500 posting a decline of 1.2%--its first quarterly drop since 2015. The decline was largely driven by the retreat of technology shares and concerns about the impact of rising interest rates.
Blackstone also said its board had authorized share repurchases of up to $1 billion, nearly triple the amount remaining under its previous authorization, though those repurchases will largely go toward offsetting dilution from stock awards.
In February, Blackstone handed responsibility for day-to-day management of the firm to Jonathan Gray who ran its successful real-estate business.
Blackstone's first-quarter distributable earnings, the share of profits that could be doled out to shareholders, fell to $502 million, or 41 cents a share, from $1.23 billion, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier.
Shares of Blackstone rose 1.2% premarket.
Write to Miriam Gottfried at [email protected]