First-quarter earnings beat forecasts at Carlyle

The Carlyle Group reported an above-forecast jump in earnings on Wednesday, boosted by the sale of assets.

The US private equity investor said first-quarter distributable earnings came in at $431.3m, up 59% year-on-year. After-tax distributable earnings were $1.01 per common share, ahead of forecasts for 94 cents per share.

Distributable earnings, a key metric, represent the cash used to pay dividends to shareholders.

Total segment revenues were $1.02bn, up on last year’s $754.2m. Within that, net profits from asset sales soared to $397.8m from $165.1m, after Carlyle sold stakes in companies including McDonald’s Chinese business and UK firm Neptune Energy.

Fund management fees rose to $515.6m from $506.2m a year previously.

Chief executive Harvey Schwartz said the numbers reflected “continued momentum across the firm, including another quarter of record fee-related earnings".

“This is the outcome of our efforts to invest for growth and drive shareholder value. Carlyle is well-positioned to capitalise on the steadily-improving investment environment and we remain confident in our ability to deliver our financial targets.”

As at noon BST, shares in Nasdaq-listed Carlyle was down 1% in pre-market trading.