Market Doesn't Like What It Hears from Apollo

Investors watching Apollo Investment's(AINV Quote) slide from a share price topping $18.50 a year ago to its close today of $5.99 were probably looking for some better news.

They didn't get it.

Apollo, the closed-end investment boutique, said in today's after-market earnings reports that total assets for the investment company slipped by a third, coming in at $2.5 billion from $3.7 billion at the same time last year -- and dragging NAV per share down with it from $15.83 to $9.82 in the year over period. EPS for the quarter came in at 21 cents.

Only after excluding certain items did profit come to 36 cents per share, which just barely beat the street consensus by a penny.

Though the fund's investment income for the year rose from $357.9 million to $377.3 million, the company didn't invest as in year's past, only doling out $435 million across 12 new and 13 existing companies in its portfolio.

For the fiscal year that ended in 2008, Apollo said it sunk $1.8 billion into 27 new and 15 existing companies. This year, its investments sold for $340 million against $714 million at the same time last year.

The fund also announced that it was maintaining the same 26-cent dividend from the last announcement in March. Before it cut it, Apollo had paid out a 52-cent dividend for six straight times.

Apollo's share price fell more than 4% in after-hours trading following the announcement, after a near 9% gain from the previous day's close.