Brookfield posts higher Q4 profit, raises dividend

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. raised its dividend as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of US$1.8 billion, up from US$1.6 billion a year earlier.

The asset manager, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share, up from 12 cents.

The increased payment to shareholders came as Brookfield said its profit for the final quarter of 2020 amounted to 40 cents per share.

The result compared with a profit of 50 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2019, which was before the company did a three-for-two stock split in April 2020 that increased its number of shares outstanding.

Revenue totalled US$17.1 billion for the quarter, down from US$17.8 billion a year earlier.

Funds from operations amounted to US$2.1 billion or US$1.34 per share, up from US$1.2 billion or 75 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2019.

“We ended the year with our best quarter ever, reflecting the continued growth of our asset management franchise and the resiliency of our underlying businesses,” Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt said in a statement.

“Looking forward, we expect 2021 to also be strong as we enter another important phase for our business,” Flatt said. “We recently started our next round of flagship fundraising, are making progress on significant realizations from earlier vintage funds and underlying business performance is good and getting better.”

The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.