Ameriprise Profit Leaps On Surge Of Investing, Market Gains

Oct. 25--Ameriprise Financial Inc. said Tuesday its third-quarter profit, excluding the effect of its annual insurance review, rose 27 percent, amid higher rates of investing and productivity gains by its network of financial advisers.

The Minneapolis-based investment management firm said its operating profit was $484 million, or $3.12 a share, not counting the impact of insurance and annuity assumptions that it makes once a year in the July-to-September period. Analysts surveyed by Zack's Investment Research were expecting a profit of $2.86 a share.

Revenue was $3 billion, up from $2.8 billion a year ago. The company's advice and wealth management business, its largest, reported a 9 percent jump in revenue to $1.4 billion and a 29 percent jump in pretax operating profit to $298 million.

Its advisers were helping guide assets of $539 billion for retail investors by the end of the quarter. Those investors put more money into Ameriprise products and were helped by market appreciation. The Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 5 percent in the quarter.

"We're serving more clients in our target markets of the affluent and mass affluent, as well as attracting quality advisors to Ameriprise," Jim Cracchiolo, the company's chief executive, said in a statement.

The company's asset management business, which operates the Columbia and Threadneedle funds, reported a 5 percent jump in revenue to $778 million and 29 percent jump in pretax operating profit to $200 million.

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