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Assets under Management
As of March31, 2011, assets under management (AUM) totaled $3.648 trillion, up $87.5 billion or 2% q/q. The improvement in AUM was primarily attributable to $259 billion in market appreciation, $135 billion of net subscriptions in long-term products excluding merger-related outflows, and a $74 billion increase due to foreign exchange movements, partially offset by $117 billion of total BGI merger-related outflows, $47 billion of cash management net outflows and $14 billion of advisory distributions and outflows.
Net new business of $82.4 billion in long-term products reflected strong client response to BlackRock’s diverse capabilities and was partially offset by $24.4 billion of net outflows in cash management and $4.5 billion of distributions from advisory accounts. BlackRock Solutions added 12 net new assignments during the quarter. Merger-related outflows slowed to $18.4 billion during the reported quarter, with a previously reported $9.4 billion remaining in the pipeline. As of April 14, 2011, net new business pipeline totaled $82.4 billion, including $60.7 billion in long-term products, $6.2 billion in cash management and $15.5 billion in advisory portfolios. The $60.7 billion of net wins in long-term products included a wide range of index and active quantitative products.
Additionally, the BlackRock Solutions pipeline of new assignments and pending proposals were extremely strong, reflecting continued de-leveraging in the global banking system, demand for balance sheet surveillance and extension of Aladdin platform for equities.
Outlook: According to some firms, though demand for cash management, fixed income and quantitative equity would remain weak, the demand for multi-asset class, alternative, and equity ETF and index products will likely remain strong over the next few quarters.
Dividend
On March 23, 2011, BlackRock paid a quarterly cash dividend of $1.375 per share of common stock to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 7, 2010. This is an increase of 37.5% from the prior quarter's dividend of $1.00 per share.
Outlook: Some firms believe that though the current payout ratio is sound, there is further room for dividend hike in FY12 as acquisitions would be small in relation to overall size of the company and share repurchases appear to be unlikely.
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