The firm said the $36.1bn of long-term net inflows achieved during the first quarter this year “reflected the continued resilience of differentiated business model” despite being a long way below the $70bn recorded in the first quarter of 2015.
Geographically speaking, net inflows of $21.1bn, $11.5bn and $3.5bn were achieved from clients in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, respectively.
Retail funds actually posted net outflows during the quarter of $0.4bn, with the institutional and ETF sides of the business responsible for most of the net inflows achieved across the business.
The asset management heavyweight also missed earnings estimates, with a diluted earnings per share decrease of 19% year-over-year, at $3.92.
It was still able to grow its dividend however, announcing it will up the quarterly pay out by 5% to $2.29 per share and also carry out $300m of share repurchases.
“BlackRock performed well in a challenging market environment and our first quarter 2016 results demonstrate our ongoing ability to help clients achieve their investment goals,” said Laurence D. Fink, chairman and CEO. “BlackRock generated long-term net inflows of $36 billion in the quarter, driven by positive global flows across both active and index products. Over the last twelve months, we saw $118 billion of long-term net inflows, muting the impact of $148 billion of market and FX headwinds over the same period.”
“Strong organic asset growth and positive mix shift largely offset equity market headwinds, as a 1% year-over-year decline in base fees outpaced a 9% average fall in the MSCI World Index over the same period,” Fink continued. “While we of course were not immune to the effects of market movements, which impacted both base fees and performance fees this quarter, the magnitude and diversification of our inflows speak to the differentiation of BlackRock’s platform and our ability to serve our clients.”
