Waddell & Reed tripled its sales through third parties during the past twelve months. The revelation was part of the Kansas City-based firm's second quarter earnings report. The release also noted that assets under managment at the firm fell 12 percent during the second quarter and that fees thrown off by those assets declined 11 percent.

Third-party sales at the firm hit $192 million compared to $66 million during the second quarter of 2001. It added that its third-party distribution channel added to the firm's bottom line for the second quarter running. Until recent year's W&R funds had been distributed primarily through the broker's proprietary advisor force.

Altogether, the firm reported net earnings of $0.31 per share. That figure matched analyst consensus expectations.

Waddell also reported that sales of its funds declined 2.5 percent during the quarter to $832 million. Retail sales were off by 5.1 percent to $557 million.

Hardest hit were front-load sales in the W&R Target funds. Sales of that product fell 5.8 percent to $500 million (variable sales fell 15.7 percent to $150 million). Sales of "B" shares fell just 2.4 percent to $57 million and "C" share sales grew 1.4 percent to $29.5 million. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE