Ameriprise delivers strong 1Q results

Armed with strong performance from its advisory and asset management businesses, Ameriprise Financial Inc. delivered on the upside for the first quarter. The company reported first quarter earnings of $2.04 per share. The asset management and financial advice company beat analysts' estimates of $1.88 per share by 16 cents, according to results issued on Monday. For the quarter that ended last month, the company's pretax operating earnings from Advice & Wealth Management and Asset Management grew 36% to $364 million, the company reported. Total retail client assets increased 12% to $418 billion, driven by client net inflows, the company said. “Ameriprise delivered another strong quarter,” CEO Jim Cracchiolo said in a statement. “Revenues and earnings were up nicely and our operating return on equity reached a new record of 20.8%.” “Our advisory and asset management businesses continue to drive our growth,” he said. “Clients committed record flows to fee-based wrap programs and we're steadily driving improvement in advisor productivity.” Financial adviser productivity continued to improve, the company said. On a trailing 12 month basis, operating net revenue per adviser, excluding results from former banking operations, increased 15% to $454,000. Adviser recruiting remained solid, with 76 experienced adviser moving their practices to Ameriprise during the quarter and the recruiting pipeline remains good, the company said. In total, Ameriprise has a network of 10,000 registered reps in both an employee channel and an independent contractor model.