Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. said profit fell in the first quarter ended Sept. 30 on lower revenues and investment losses.

Net income for the quarter was $6.2 million, 21¢ a share. That compared with $7.6 million, or 26¢ a share in the year earlier period.

Revenue for the quarter slipped to $18.2 million, down from $21.5 million a year ago.

The Toronto-based wealth manager’s revenues are derived from base management fees, calculated as a percentage of assets under management (AUM), performance fees, and investment and other income.

AUM fell by $1.2 billion from June 30 to Sept. 30, Gluskin Sheff said. The decrease was due to $72 million resulting from net client withdrawals and $1.1 billion from a net decline in investment performance.

Base management fees fell 6% to $19.1 million, compared with $20.3 million in the year-ago period, as AUM dropped.

For the quarter, investment and other income was a in the red by $1 million compared with $900,000 in income for the year-earlier period. The drop was “primarily due to losses on seeded investment strategies offset by the interest earned on cash in the bank,” the firm said.

“The credit crisis is broad and deep and increasingly worldwide, and the adverse implications for stock prices have been proving to be severe. Our portfolios were obviously impacted by these declines,” said Gerald Sheff, chairman and CEO, in a release.

“While we are adjusting our portfolios as we see appropriate to capitalize on the new and rapidly changing realities of the market and global economy, we are not making changes in our investment philosophy or disciplines.”

Toronto-based Gluskin Sheff is a wealth management firms serving high net worth investors.

IE