Montreal-based Fiera Capital Corp. (TSX:FSZ) swung to a profit in the first quarter as acquistions and organic growth combined to boost revenues, assets under management (AUM) and earnings.
The independent Canadian investment firm Tuesday reported that net earnings for the quarter ended March 31 rose to $1.6 million from a loss of $435,000 a year ago.
Earnings per share climbed to $0.03 a share compared to a net loss of $0.01 a shared for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.
Quarterly revenue increased by 95% to $30.2 million compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago.
AUM increased by $7.5 billion, of which $6 billion comes from the UBS acquisition, to $64.5 billion from the previous quarter ended Dec. 31, 2012 and by $35.8 billion compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2012.
On January 31, Fiera announced the closing of the transaction under which it acquired the Canadian fixed income, Canadian equity and domestic balanced account business from UBS Global Asset Management (Canada) Inc., representing assets under management of approximately $6 billion for a $52 million in cash.
Subsequent to the end of the quarter, on May 1, Fiera Capital closed the transaction previously announced in January, with GMP Capital Inc. to acquire selected alternative asset management funds of GMP Investment Management representing approximately $570 million in assets under management.
“Fiera Capital’s growth strategy is generating strong financial and operating results. Our acquisitions and our organic performance have combined to significantly increase assets under management, revenues, cash flow and earnings,” said Jean-Guy Desjardins, chairman CEO and CIO, in a release.