(Bloomberg) -- Janus Capital Group Inc., owner of the Janus, Intech and Perkins funds, said first-quarter earnings rose 24 percent as stock market gains helped boost assets.
Net income climbed to $28 million, or 15 cents a share, from $22.6 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier, the Denver- based company said today in a statement. Results matched the estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Richard M. Weil, who took over in 2010, has expanded Januss fixed-income team and created a group focused on multi-asset investing in an effort to reduce the firms dependence on equities and reverse 15 straight quarters of redemptions. Investors pulled $3.9 billion in the three months ended March 31, up from $3.5 billion in the previous quarter.
Janus is more heavily invested in equities than others in its peer group, so I expect more benefit for them from rising stock markets, Sonia Parechanian, an equity analyst in New York for S&P Capital IQ who recommends a hold on Janus shares.
Withdrawals have followed poor performance by Januss funds, which also lowered fees the company collects. For many of its products, Janus charges management fees that adjust upward or downward based on performance over trailing periods of 12 to 36 months.
Assets under management rose to $163.8 billion from $156.8 billion at the end of December as the Standard & Poors 500 Index of U.S. stocks gained 10 percent in the quarter.
Janus announced results before the start of regular U.S. trading. The shares rose 2 percent this year through yesterday, compared with the 15 percent gain by the Standard & Poors 20- company index of asset managers and custody banks.
