BOSTON, April 30 (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Friday affirmed its rating on debt issued by Fidelity Investments' parent, FMR LLC, and raised its outlook, though it warned about the company's profits and investments outside of financial services.
The rating agency maintained its rating of A-plus on senior unsecured debt of the giant Boston mutual fund firm, and said it was raising its outlook to stable from negative. Standard & Poor's cited Fidelity's brand name and franchise and liquidity.
But S&P warned that Fidelity's profitability and debt-service measures 'are still low' compared with peers. It also cited poor results in the company's nonfinancial businesses such as ProBuild, a home building supply company.
A Fidelity spokeswoman said the firm would not comment, or say how much debt it has outstanding.
Fidelity's troubles with ProBuild were spelled out in a prospectus to private investors last fall. In its annual report to shareholders the company listed profit for 2009 of $2.5 billion on revenue of $11.5 billion. It had $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of the end of the year.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Leslie Adler) Keywords: FIDELITY/RATING (Ross.Kerber@ThomsonReuters.com; +1-617-856-4341; Ross.Kerber.Reuters.com@Reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The rating agency maintained its rating of A-plus on senior unsecured debt of the giant Boston mutual fund firm, and said it was raising its outlook to stable from negative. Standard & Poor's cited Fidelity's brand name and franchise and liquidity.
But S&P warned that Fidelity's profitability and debt-service measures 'are still low' compared with peers. It also cited poor results in the company's nonfinancial businesses such as ProBuild, a home building supply company.
A Fidelity spokeswoman said the firm would not comment, or say how much debt it has outstanding.
Fidelity's troubles with ProBuild were spelled out in a prospectus to private investors last fall. In its annual report to shareholders the company listed profit for 2009 of $2.5 billion on revenue of $11.5 billion. It had $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of the end of the year.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Leslie Adler) Keywords: FIDELITY/RATING (Ross.Kerber@ThomsonReuters.com; +1-617-856-4341; Ross.Kerber.Reuters.com@Reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.