Assante Corp. is reporting a profit for the third quarter ended September 30. Net earnings were $5.7 million, up $9.1 million from the net loss of $3.4 million during the same period last year.
The firm says that the increase was due to several factors including: continued strong net sales in Canada; the adoption of the new accounting standard relating to goodwill; and the strong growth in most of the business management and sports representation businesses, offset by the planned increase in U.S. infrastructure costs.
Assets under management in Canada at the end of the third quarter were at $5.6 billion, up $1.2 billion over the same period last year and unchanged from the previous quarter. Changes to AUM were comprised of net sales of $357 million, offset by a market decline of 7% or $389 million. AUM in the U.S. was $1.3 billion, unchanged from last quarter, and up $600 million over the third quarter last year. Overall assets under administration fell from $21.8 billion at the end of the second quarter to $19.5 billion.
Revenue was $94 million, up $86.8 million for the same period last year. The increase was due to growth in investment management revenue driven by strong net sales. EBITDA before restructuring costs was $20.9 million.
“Overall I am pleased with these results,” said Assante president and CEO Martin Weinberg, in a news release. “The steady performance during this turbulent year demonstrates the value of Assante’s personalized approach and consistent investment philosophy and the power of face-to-face advice.
“With continued success in Canada, we have now turned our focus to methodically build our U.S. operations in the same way. We’ve established our New York offices and have begun to round out the general management team,” said Weinberg.