Strong Results for Alliance Capital

Alliance Capital Management(AC Quote), one of the largest publicly traded U.S. money managers, reported a 28% rise in fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday amid a strong investment performance and higher assets under management.

The New York-based firm said net income rose to $289.9 million, or $1.02 a unit, from $228.2 million, or 80 cents a unit, a year earlier. The results beat the Thomson First Call mean analyst estimate of 95 cents a unit.

"Fourth-quarter and full-year investment returns for our clients were excellent," said Lew Sanders, chairman and chief executive of Alliance, in a statement. "Almost all of our key equity services delivered strong absolute and relative returns, with particularly impressive performance in growth and style blend services. Although conditions in the fixed income markets offered less opportunity, here too, most of our services outperformed their benchmarks in the quarter and for the year." ...