Ameriprise Financial (AMP) beat earnings estimates and reported first-quarter net income of $401 million, or $2.01 per share, up 19% from $336 million, or $1.58, a year ago.
Operating net revenues increased 8% year over year to $2.8 billion, "driven by strong fee-based business growth from client net inflows and increased client activity, as well as market appreciation, which more than offset pressure from continued low interest rates," according to the company.
"Our advisory and asset management businesses continue to drive our growth," said Chairman and CEO Jim Cracchiolo, in a press release. "Clients committed record flows to fee-based wrap programs, and we're steadily driving improvement in advisor productivity."
The number of advisors in the group totals 9,704 — down 12 from the prior quarter and 73 from a year ago: 2,155 reps are employee advisors, while the remaining 7,549 are independent.
Strong Wealth Results
Pretax operating earnings from the Advice & Wealth Management and Asset Management units grew 36% to $364 million. Wealth management results expanded 39% to $181 million on sales of $1.15 billion, up 13% from a year ago.
