Franklin Resources Inc (BEN, Financial) announced its preliminary fourth quarter and fiscal year results on October 31, 2023. The company reported a preliminary net income of $295.5 million or $0.58 per diluted share for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, compared to $232.7 million or $0.46 per diluted share for the same quarter in 2022. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2023, the preliminary net income was $882.8 million or $1.72 per diluted share, compared to $1,291.9 million or $2.53 per diluted share for the prior year.
Financial Performance
The company's operating revenues for the quarter stood at $1,986.1 million, a 2% increase from $1,939.0 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The operating income for the quarter was $338.3 million, a slight decrease from $348.5 million in the previous year. The company's operating margin was 17.0%.
Franklin Resources Inc (BEN, Financial) also reported adjusted net income of $427.0 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.84 for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. This is compared to $394.4 million and $0.78 for the same quarter in 2022.
Assets Under Management
The company's Assets Under Management (AUM) were $1,374.2 billion at the end of September 2023, marking a 6% increase from the previous year. The increase in AUM was due to the positive impact of $58.9 billion of net market change, distributions and other, $34.9 billion from an acquisition, and $4.3 billion of cash management net inflows, partially offset by $21.3 billion of long-term net outflows.
Shareholder Returns and Balance Sheet
Franklin Resources Inc (BEN, Financial) returned $870 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the fiscal year. The company ended the fiscal year with $6.9 billion of cash and investments, after funding acquisitions. The company's total stockholders' equity was $12.5 billion and it had 495.9 million shares of common stock outstanding at the end of September 2023.
Company's Commentary
Commenting on the results, Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Resources, Inc., said,
As we look back over our fiscal year, challenging global financial markets and geopolitical uncertainty weighed on investor sentiment. Against this backdrop and amidst ongoing industry-wide change, we continued to make progress executing on our long-term plan focused on further diversifying our business across asset classes, vehicles, and geographies."
She further added,
While continuing to invest in long-term growth initiatives, we also continued to strengthen the foundation of our business through disciplined expense management and operational efficiencies. Our balance sheet gives us the financial flexibility to continue to grow our business."
Explore the complete 8-K earnings release (here) from Franklin Resources Inc for further details.
