Profits at Merrill Lynch slipped in the first quarter, but the biggest US brokerage yesterday unveiled a $4 billion (€3.06 billion) stock buyback plan and raised its quarterly dividend by 25 per cent.
New York-based Merrill - which employs 400 people in Ireland - reported net income fell to $1.21 billion from $1.25 billion, hurt by deteriorating market conditions late in the quarter.
Earnings per share for the first quarter amounted to $1.21, unchanged from the same period a year ago.
State Street, the US fund administration giant, also published results yesterday.
The group, which employs around 800 people in the International Financial Services Centre, reported a 4 per cent rise in first-quarter net income to $226 million, or 67 cents per share.
Total fee revenue in the quarter increased 8 per cent to $1.1 billion, driven mainly by a 20 per cent jump in investment management fees to $177 million. State Street now has $1.4 trillion in assets. - (Reuters.)
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