DST Systems’ profit jumps on solid operations and asset sales

Sales of investments and a business boosted fourth-quarter profits at DST Systems Inc. to $255.1 million., or $6.65 a share.

The profits included gains from selling DST Global Solutions as well as shares in publicly traded State Street Corp. A year ago, DST Systems earned $84 million, or $1.97 a share.

Kansas City-based DST said profits, ignoring these one-time items and other adjustments, were $66.4 million compared with a similarly adjusted $57 million in the quarter a year earlier.

DST has been selling many of its investment holdings and other properties not tied to its core businesses of providing data processing, communications and related services.

It has used the proceeds in part to buy back shares of its own stock and invest in its operations.

“We have made several organizational changes to consolidate and centralize certain functions within our business, and these changes have helped us gain more consistency and efficiency in supporting our customers,” chief executive Steve Hooley said in the earnings announcement.

The company’s fourth-quarter results were solid and better than expected, said analyst David Koning in a note to clients of Baird Equity Research. His note said the strong performance was evident broadly throughout the company’s operations.

This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 9:20 AM with the headline "DST Systems’ profit jumps on solid operations and asset sales."