(February 4 – 12:00 ET) – Investors Group is reporting another year of strong earnings growth. The firm focused more on insurance and mortgages, and less on the stumbling fund business.
Investors’ net income for the year ended December 31 grew by 25.1% to $235.6 million. On a per-share basis, earnings were $1.12 compared to the prior year’s 89¢.
“Although mutual funds continue to be our strength, these results also show strong growth in complementary areas such as insurance, mortgages and securities,” said Sandy Riley, the firm’s president and CEO.
Gross revenues were up 7.5% for the year, and operating expenses slipped slightly. Assets under management and administration totaled $43.5 billion at yearend, up from $38.3-billion. Of that, mutual fund assets were $40.7-billion at year end, compared to $36.1-billion a year earlier.
Net fund sales were more than halved for the year, down to $1.4 billion from $2.9 billion a year ago. New annualized life insurance premium sales grew 34.1%. Mortgage originations grew to $1.01 billion from $959 million in 1998. Assets in the securities operations increased by 149% to now total $1.5 billion.