Sharply lower sales of municipal-bond investment products pulled down earnings at Chicago-based John Nuveen Co. during what Nuveen’s chairman called “one of the municipal-bond market’s most difficult years since World War II.”
For the fourth quarter, Nuveen reported that net income dropped 22 percent, to $14 million, or 37 cents a share, from $18 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues totaled $53 million, down from $60 million a year earlier, the company said.
For the year, net income fell 17 percent, to $58 million, or $1.52 a share, from $70 million, or $1.76 a share, in 1993. Revenues slipped to $220 million from $246 million.
Although earnings declined, the performance still was the third-best in the company’s 96-year history, said Chairman Richard J. Franke.
Driving the decline in earnings was the sharp drop in sales of the company’s tax-free mutual funds and unit investment trusts. In 1994, the company sold less than $2 billion worth of investment products, down substantially from 1993’s $6.4 billion.
