The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX) announced better-than-expected second-quarter results but shares dipped due to a drop in quarterly distributable earnings.
The asset management company reported earnings of US$0.90 per share on revenue of US$2.63bn compared with US$0.58 per share on revenue of US$1.53bn in the previous year’s second quarter.
The New York-based company beat Wall Street estimates of US$0.71 EPS on revenue of $1.65bn.
As of the end of June, the assets under management totaled US$439.4bn.
However, distributable earnings, or what the company uses to pay dividends, saw a 10% drop to US$700.1mln from US$781.4mln.
Nevertheless, its quarterly dividend was set at US$0.58 compared with US$0.54 a year ago.
Its total dry powder, or cash reserves, was US$88.3bn.
The company announced in January that it would buy a majority stake in the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters Corp (NYSE:TRI), the parent company of Reuters News, in a US$20bn deal. Reuters News will remain part of Thomson Reuters.
Shares were down around 1% to US$35.94 in Thursday morning trading.