Broadridge earnings drop on higher costs

Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. saw its profit fall 27 percent in the July-September period from a year earlier on higher costs for compensation, marketing and other areas, the Lake Success-based company said Thursday.

The processor of annual reports, proxy statements and other investor documents reported a rounded profit of $33 million in the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year compared with $44 million in the same period a year ago.

Sales totaled $556 million in the quarter, a 2 percent gain year over year.

In addition to its headquarters in Nassau County, the company has factories in Edgewood in Suffolk County, where about 1,500 people assemble and send to shareholders documents from public companies. They also tally shareholder votes and process securities transactions for banks and investment houses.

This work is increasingly done on the Internet as customers seek to reduce printing and mailing costs. Broadridge has rolled out a number of services to meet these requirements.

"I am satisfied with our results, particularly given the comparison to strong event-driven trading and trading-related support activities in the first quarter last year," Richard J. Daly, Broadridge's chief executive, said.

"In the [recent] quarter, we delivered solid results."

The earnings report was released before the stock market opening. Broadridge shares closed down 10 cents to $44.34 on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.