NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (NASDAQ: WETF) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020.

($13.5) million net loss ($9.2¹ million net income, as adjusted), see “Non-GAAP Financial Measurements” for additional information.

$22.4 million of non-cash charges, associated with the revaluation of deferred consideration – gold payments.

$67.4 billion of ending AUM, an increase of 11.0% arising from market appreciation and net inflows.

$881 million of net inflows, driven by inflows into our emerging markets equity and U.S. equity products, partly offset by outflows from our fixed income, commodity, international developed market equity and leveraged & inverse products.

0.41% average global advisory fee, a decrease of 1 basis point due to AUM mix shift.

$67.1 million of operating revenues, an increase of 3.7% primarily due to higher average AUM, partly offset by a lower average global advisory fee.

75.6% gross margin¹, a 0.9 point decrease primarily due to Brexit and fund rebalancing costs.

19.2% operating income margin, a 3.6 point decrease primarily due to higher operating expenses, partly offset by higher revenues.

$0.03 quarterly dividend declared, payable on February 24, 2021 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 10, 2021.

Update from Jonathan Steinberg, WisdomTree CEO

QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS

Operating Revenues

• Operating revenues increased 3.7% from the third quarter of 2020 due to higher average global AUM arising from market appreciation and net inflows, partly offset by a 1 basis point decrease in our average global advisory fee due to AUM mix shift.
• Operating revenues decreased 2.7% from the fourth quarter of 2019 due to a 3 basis point decline in our average global advisory fee arising from AUM mix shift, notwithstanding the increase in our average AUM.
• Our average global advisory fee was 0.41%, 0.42% and 0.44% during the fourth quarter of 2020, the third quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2019, respectively.

Operating Expenses

• Operating expenses increased 8.5% from the third quarter of 2020 due to higher incentive compensation, higher fund management and administration costs arising from Brexit and fund rebalances, as well as higher marketing expenses and professional fees.
• Operating expenses were essentially unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2019.

Other Income/(Expenses)

• We recognized a non-cash loss on revaluation of deferred consideration of ($22.4) million, ($8.9) million and ($5.4) million during the fourth quarter of 2020, third quarter of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2019, respectively. The loss in the fourth quarter of 2020 arose primarily from a reduction in the discount rate used to compute the present value of the annual payment obligations. The prior quarter losses arose due to an increase in forward-looking gold prices. The magnitude of any gain or loss recognized is highly correlated to the magnitude of the change in the forward-looking price of gold.
• Interest expense increased 7.3% from the third quarter of 2020 to $2.7 million primarily due to higher levels of debt outstanding. This expense increased 3.4% from the fourth quarter of 2019 due to a higher effective interest rate, partly offset by lower levels of debt outstanding.
• Other gains and losses, net, were $0.5 million, $0.7 million and $0.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, third quarter of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2019, respectively. The third quarter of 2020 includes a gain of $0.2 million from the exit of our investment in AdvisorEngine Inc. Gains and losses also generally arise from the sale of gold earned from management fees paid by our physically-backed gold ETPs, foreign exchange fluctuations, securities owned and other miscellaneous items.

Income Taxes

• Our effective income tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2020 of negative 19.5% resulted in income tax expense of $2.2 million. Our tax rate differs from the federal statutory tax rate of 21% primarily due to a non-deductible loss on revaluation of deferred consideration, partly offset by a lower tax rate on foreign earnings.
• Our adjusted effective income tax rate was 19.8%¹.

ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Operating revenues decreased 5.5% as compared to 2019 due to a 4 basis point decline in our average global advisory fee arising from AUM mix shift, notwithstanding the increase in our average AUM.
• Operating expenses decreased 7.6% as compared to 2019 due to lower incentive compensation accruals as well as $3.5 million of severance expense included in the prior year, lower sales and business development costs, third party distribution costs, marketing expenses and other expenses, as well as lower fund management and administration costs primarily due to the sale of our Canadian ETF business. These declines were partly offset by higher contractual gold payments due to higher average gold prices.
• Significant changes in items reported in other income/(expenses) include a decrease in interest expense of 14.0% due to a lower level of debt outstanding; non-cash losses on revaluation of deferred consideration of ($56.8) million and ($11.3) million in 2020 and 2019, respectively; a decrease in interest income of 77.7% as the prior year included accrued paid-in-kind interest income on our former AdvisorEngine investment; non-cash impairment charges of $22.8 million and $30.7 million recorded in 2020 and 2019, respectively; a loss on extinguishment of debt of $2.4 million in 2020; non-cash charges of $6.0 million and $4.3 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively, arising from the release of tax-related indemnification assets upon the expiration of the statute of limitations (an equal and offsetting benefit was recognized in income tax expense); and a gain of $1.1 million in 2020 arising from an adjustment to the estimated fair value of consideration received from the exit of our investment in AdvisorEngine.
• Our effective income tax rate for 2020 of negative 1.2% resulted in income tax expense of $0.4 million. Our tax rate differs from the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to a non-deductible loss on revaluation of deferred consideration, a valuation allowance on capital losses and tax shortfalls associated with the vesting and exercise of stock-based compensation awards. These items were partly offset by a tax benefit of $6.0 million recognized in connection with the release of the tax-related indemnification asset described above, a $2.9 million non-taxable gain recognized upon sale of our Canadian ETF business in the first quarter, a tax benefit of $2.6 million recognized in connection with the release of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance on interest carryforwards arising from our debt previously held in the United Kingdom and a lower tax rate on foreign earnings.

ABOUT WISDOMTREE

WisdomTree Investments, Inc., through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe (collectively, “WisdomTree”), is an ETF and ETP sponsor and asset manager headquartered in New York. WisdomTree offers products covering equity, commodity, fixed income, leveraged and inverse, currency and alternative strategies. WisdomTree currently has approximately $69.2 billion in assets under management globally.