UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
| x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
| For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005 |
or
| ¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
| For the transition period from to |
Commission File No. 1-8529
LEGG MASON, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Maryland | 52-1200960 | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
| 100 Light Street Baltimore, Maryland |
21202 | |
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |
Registrants telephone number, including area code: (410) 539-0000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class |
Name of each exchange | |
| Common Stock, $.10 par value | New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrants knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes x No ¨
As of September 30, 2004, the aggregate market value of the registrants voting stock, consisting of the registrants common stock and the exchangeable shares discussed below, held by non-affiliates was $4,970,216,877.
As of May 20, 2005, the number of shares outstanding of the registrants common stock was 107,469,506. In addition, on that date, a subsidiary of the registrant had outstanding 2,562,831 exchangeable shares which are convertible on a one-for-one basis at any time into shares of common stock of the registrant.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrants definitive proxy statement for its Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on July 19, 2005 are incorporated by reference into Part III.
| Page | ||||
| PART I | ||||
| Item 1. | 1 | |||
| Item 2. | 25 | |||
| Item 3. | 26 | |||
| Item 4. | 26 | |||
| Item 4A. | 26 | |||
| PART II | ||||
| Item 5. | 28 | |||
| Item 6. | 33 | |||
| Item 7. | Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
34 | ||
| Item 7A. | 55 | |||
| Item 8. | 56 | |||
| Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
79 | ||
| Item 9A. | 79 | |||
| Item 9B. | 79 | |||
| PART III | ||||
| Item 10. | 80 | |||
| Item 11. | 80 | |||
| Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
80 | ||
| Item 13. | 80 | |||
| Item 14. | 81 | |||
| PART IV | ||||
| Item 15. | 82 | |||
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ITEM 1. BUSINESS.
General
We are a holding company that, through our subsidiaries, is principally engaged in providing the following to individuals, institutions, corporations, governments and government agencies:
| | asset management; |
| | securities brokerage; |
| | investment banking; and |
| | other related financial services. |
We currently operate through three business segments: Asset Management, Private Client and Capital Markets; however, in reporting our results, we include a fourth segment Corporate.
In our asset management business, we provide investment advisory services to institutional and individual clients and company-sponsored investment funds. We classify our asset management business into three divisions: Mutual Funds, Institutional and Wealth Management.
In our Mutual Funds business, we sponsor domestic and international equity, fixed income and money market mutual and closed-end funds and other proprietary funds. We have three asset management subsidiaries, or business groups within subsidiaries, that primarily focus on managing or distributing proprietary investment funds:
| | Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc., an equity asset manager located in Baltimore, Maryland, that, as of April 1, 2005, combined its business with, and thus acquired substantially all of the mutual funds business of, Legg Mason Funds Management, Inc.; |
| | Royce & Associates, LLC, a primarily small-cap value equity manager located in New York, New York; and |
| | Legg Mason Investments Holdings Limited, which primarily distributes company-sponsored offshore funds and is headquartered in London, England. |
Our Institutional asset management subsidiaries provide a wide range of asset management services and products to domestic and international institutional clients. Our Institutional asset management subsidiaries, or business groups within subsidiaries, are:
| | Western Asset Management Company, Western Asset Management Company Limited and Legg Mason Asset Management (Asia) Pte Limited, fixed income asset managers located in Pasadena, California; London, England; and Singapore; |
| | Batterymarch Financial Management, Inc., a U.S., international and emerging markets equity manager headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts; |
| | Brandywine Asset Management, LLC, an equity and U.S., international and global fixed income manager headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware; |
| | Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc., an equity asset manager located in Baltimore, Maryland that operates, in addition to its mutual funds business that is part of our Mutual Funds division, an institutional asset management business that is part of this division; and |
| | Legg Mason Canada Inc., a fixed income and equity manager headquartered in Toronto, Canada. |
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Our Wealth Management subsidiaries provide customized discretionary investment management services and products to high net worth individuals and families, endowments and foundations and institutions. Our Wealth Management subsidiaries are:
| | Private Capital Management, L.P., an equity asset manager located in Naples, Florida; |
| | Legg Mason Investment Counsel, LLC, an equity, fixed income and balanced portfolio manager that operates out of offices in New York City, Chicago, Cincinnati and Philadelphia and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland; |
| | Bartlett & Co., a balanced, equity and fixed income portfolio manager headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio; |
| | Legg Mason Trust, fsb, a federally chartered unitary thrift institution that manages fixed income and equity assets and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland; |
| | Barrett Associates, Inc., an equity asset manager located in New York, New York; |
| | Berkshire Asset Management, Inc., an equity, balanced and fixed income portfolio manager located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and |
| | Legg Mason Focus Capital, Inc., an equity asset manager headquartered in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. |
Our Private Client and Capital Markets business segment activities are primarily conducted through Legg Mason Wood Walker, Incorporated (Legg Mason Wood Walker), our principal broker-dealer subsidiary. Legg Mason Wood Walker is a full service broker-dealer, investment advisor and investment banking firm operating primarily in the Eastern and Southern regions of the United States. These activities are also conducted through Howard Weil Incorporated, an institutional broker-dealer focusing on the energy business.
Our Corporate business segment consists primarily of unallocated corporate revenues and expenses.
See Item 7. Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Results by Segment for the net revenues and pre-tax earnings of each of our business segments. See Note 18 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report for our net revenues and pre-tax earnings generated in each of the four principal geographic areas in which we conduct business.
Legg Mason, Inc. was incorporated in Maryland in 1981 to serve as a holding company for Legg Mason Wood Walker and other subsidiaries. The predecessor company to Legg Mason Wood Walker was formed in 1970 under the name Legg Mason & Co., Inc. to combine the operations of Legg & Co., a Maryland-based broker-dealer formed in 1899, and Mason & Company, Inc., a Virginia-based broker-dealer formed in 1962. Our subsequent growth has occurred primarily through internal expansion and the acquisition of asset management and broker-dealer firms.
Additional information about Legg Mason is available on our website at http://www.leggmason.com. We make available, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and our proxy statements. Investors can find this information under the Inside Legg Mason-Investor Relations section of our website. These reports are available through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file the material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the Legg Mason, Inc. Corporate Governance Principles, Code of Conduct for all employees and directors and charters for the committees of our Board of Directors are also available on our corporate website at http://www.leggmason.com under the Inside Legg Mason-Investor Relations section. A copy of any of these materials may also be obtained, free of charge, by sending a written request to Corporate
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Secretary, Legg Mason, Inc., 100 Light Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Within the time frames required by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the New York Stock Exchange, we will post on our website any amendments to the Code of Conduct and any waiver of the Code of Conduct applicable to any executive officer, director, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller. The information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Report.
Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this Report to we, us, our and Legg Mason include Legg Mason, Inc. and its predecessors and subsidiaries.
Revenues by Source
LEGG MASON, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
| Years Ended March 31, |
||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 |
2004 |
2003(1) |
||||||||||||||||
| Amount |
Percent |
Amount |
Percent |
Amount |
Percent |
|||||||||||||
| (Dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Investment Advisory and Related Fees: |
||||||||||||||||||
| Separate Accounts |
$ | 931,030 | 38.7 | % | $ | 678,867 | 35.0 | % | $ | 488,614 | 32.6 | % | ||||||
| Mutual Funds: |
||||||||||||||||||
| Advisory Fees |
460,629 | 19.1 | 329,908 | 17.0 | 223,540 | 14.9 | ||||||||||||
| Distribution Fees |
241,218 | 10.0 | 190,073 | 9.8 | 137,024 | 9.1 | ||||||||||||
| Related Fees |
23,453 | 1.0 | 18,182 | 0.9 | 11,152 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||
| Total |
1,656,330 | 68.8 | 1,217,030 | 62.7 | 860,330 | 57.3 | ||||||||||||
| Commissions: |
||||||||||||||||||
| Listed and Over-the-Counter |
221,379 | 9.2 | 223,395 | 11.5 | 197,339 | 13.2 | ||||||||||||
| Mutual Funds |
97,850 | 4.1 | 79,021 | 4.1 | 77,671 | 5.2 | ||||||||||||
| Insurance and Annuities |
35,251 | 1.5 | 35,974 | 1.8 | 36,408 | 2.4 | ||||||||||||
| Options |
3,862 | 0.1 | 5,129 | 0.3 | 5,301 | 0.3 | ||||||||||||
| Total |
358,342 | 14.9 | 343,519 | 17.7 | 316,719 | 21.1 | ||||||||||||
| Principal Transactions: |
||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Government and Agency |
59,680 | 2.5 | 55,638 | 2.9 | 58,500 | 3.9 | ||||||||||||
| Municipal |
22,483 | 0.9 | 27,254 | 1.4 | 31,777 | 2.1 | ||||||||||||
| Corporate Debt |
42,521 | 1.8 | 47,547 | 2.4 | 35,569 | 2.4 | ||||||||||||
| Equities |
36,849 | 1.5 | 35,042 | 1.8 | 32,348 | 2.1 | ||||||||||||
| Total |
161,533 | 6.7 | 165,481 | 8.5 | 158,194 | 10.5 | ||||||||||||
| Investment Banking: |
||||||||||||||||||
| Corporate |
116,917 | 4.9 | 135,608 | 7.0 | 93,350 | 6.2 | ||||||||||||
| Municipal |
20,353 | 0.8 | 14,489 | 0.7 | 15,681 | 1.1 | ||||||||||||
| Total |
137,270 | 5.7 | 150,097 | 7.7 | 109,031 | 7.3 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Income |
118,695 | 4.9 | 84,314 | 4.3 | 106,220 | 7.1 | ||||||||||||
| Other |
57,382 | 2.4 | 43,826 | 2.3 | 35,849 | 2.4 | ||||||||||||
| Total Revenues |
2,489,552 | 103.4 | 2,004,267 | 103.2 | 1,586,343 | 105.7 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense |
80,844 | 3.4 | 63,155 | 3.2 | 85,997 | 5.7 | ||||||||||||
| Net Revenues |
$ | 2,408,708 | 100.0 | % | $ | 1,941,112 | 100.0 | % | $ | 1,500,346 | 100.0 | % | ||||||
| (1) | Restated to reflect discontinued mortgage banking and servicing operations, where applicable. |
3
Asset Management Business Segment
Our Asset Management business segment provides investment advisory services to institutional and individual clients and company-sponsored investment funds. Operating in offices primarily located in the United States, and also located in the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore, our asset management subsidiaries provide a broad array of investment management products and services. Our investment products include proprietary mutual funds ranging from money market and fixed income funds to equity funds managed in a wide variety of investing styles and other domestic and offshore funds offered to both retail and institutional investors. We believe that our asset management business diversification across asset classes, investment styles and distribution channels helps to mitigate our exposure to the risks created by changing market environments.
In our asset management business, our subsidiaries primarily earn revenues by charging fees for managing the investment assets of clients. Fees are typically calculated as a percentage of the value of assets under management and vary with the type of account managed, the asset manager and the type of client. Accordingly, the fee income of each of our asset management subsidiaries will typically increase or decrease as its average assets under management increases or decreases. Our asset management subsidiaries may also earn performance fees from certain accounts if the investment performance of the assets in the account meets or exceeds a specified benchmark during a measurement period. For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2005, 2004 and 2003, $48.9 million, $41.5 million and $21.6 million, respectively, of our $1.7 billion, $1.2 billion and $860.3 million in investment advisory and related fee revenues (including revenues generated outside our Asset Management business segment) were performance fees. Increases in assets under management generally result from appreciation in the value of client assets and from inflows of additional assets from new and existing clients. Conversely, decreases in assets under management generally result from asset value depreciation and from client redemptions and withdrawals.
As of March 31 of each of the last three years, our subsidiaries had the following aggregate assets under management:
| Total Assets (billions) |
Total Equity- (billions) |
% of Total in Equity Assets |
Total Fixed (billions) |
% of Total in Fixed Income Assets |
|||||||||||
| 2005 |
$ | 372.9 | $ | 142.9 | 38.3 | % | $ | 230.0 | 61.7 | % | |||||
| 2004 |
286.4 | 112.3 | 39.2 | 174.1 | 60.8 | ||||||||||
| 2003 |
192.2 | 60.1 | 31.3 | 132.1 | 68.7 | ||||||||||
Our asset management business has had steady growth over the last ten years, both in absolute terms and in terms of the percentage of our revenues and profits that it generates. During that period, our assets under management have grown from $24.6 billion to $372.9 billion and our investment advisory and related fee revenues, which include distribution fees that are primarily included in the Private Client business segment, have grown from $123.9 million to $1.7 billion. This growth in our asset management business has occurred through both internal growth and strategic acquisitions of asset management businesses. More recently, we have sought to grow our asset management business internationally, and, as a result, $91.3 billion of our assets under management at March 31, 2005 were managed on behalf of clients domiciled outside the United States. It is our strategy to continue to grow our asset management business, both in absolute terms and as percentages of our total revenues and profits, through both internal growth and selected acquisitions of asset management businesses.
We believe that market conditions and the investment performance of our asset management subsidiaries will be critical elements in our attempts to grow our assets under management and asset management business. When securities markets are strong, our assets under management will tend to increase because of market growth, resulting in increased asset management revenues. Similarly, if our asset management subsidiaries can produce strong investment results relative to those of other investment managers, our assets under management will tend to increase as a result of the investment performance. In addition, strong market conditions or strong relative investment performance can result in increased inflows in assets from existing and new clients.
4
Conversely, in periods when securities markets are weak or declining, or when our asset management subsidiaries have produced poor relative performance, it is likely to be more difficult to grow our assets under management and asset management business and, in such periods, our assets under management and asset management business are more likely to decline.
Our asset management subsidiaries manage the accounts of their clients pursuant to written investment management contracts between the client and the subsidiary. These contracts generally specify the management fees to be paid by the client and the investment strategy for the account, and are generally terminable by either party on relatively short notice. Investment management contracts may not be assigned (including as a result of transactions, such as a direct or indirect change of control of the asset management subsidiary, that would constitute an assignment under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) without the prior consent of the client. When the asset management client is a registered mutual fund or closed-end fund (whether or not one of our subsidiaries has sponsored the fund), the funds board of directors must annually approve the investment management contract, and any material changes to the contract or assignment of the contract (including as a result of transactions, such as a direct or indirect change of control of the asset management subsidiary, that would constitute an assignment under the Investment Company Act of 1940) must be approved by the investors in the fund.
We conduct our asset management business primarily through 17 subsidiaries. Each of these subsidiaries generally focuses on a different portion of the asset management business in terms of the types of assets managed (primarily equity or fixed income), the types of products and services offered, the investment styles utilized, the distribution channels used and the types and geographic locations of its clients. These subsidiaries are generally operated as individual businesses, in many cases with certain administrative functions being provided by the parent company and other affiliates, that market their products and services under their own brand names. Consistent with this approach, we have in place revenue sharing agreements with Legg Mason Capital Management; Royce & Associates; Western Asset Management Company, Western Asset Management Company Limited and Legg Mason Asset Management (Asia); Brandywine Asset Management; Batterymarch Financial Management; Private Capital Management; Bartlett & Co.; Barrett Associates; and Berkshire Asset Management and/or certain of their key officers. Pursuant to these revenue sharing agreements, a specified percentage of the subsidiarys revenues is required to be distributed to us and the balance of the revenues is retained to pay operating expenses, including salaries and bonuses, with specific expense and compensation allocations being determined by the subsidiarys management, subject to our approval. Although the revenue sharing agreements impede our ability to increase the profit margins of these subsidiaries, we believe the agreements are important because they provide management at the subsidiaries with incentives to (i) grow the subsidiarys revenues, since management is able to participate in the revenue growth through the portion that is retained; and (ii) control operating expenses, which will increase the portion of the retained revenues that is available for incentive compensation.
We classify our asset management business into three divisions: Mutual Funds, Institutional and Wealth Management. Mutual Funds encompasses the subsidiaries that are primarily engaged in providing investment advisory or distribution services to proprietary investment funds and the proprietary funds operations of our other asset managers. Our Institutional managers are subsidiaries that focus on providing asset management services for institutional clients. Our Wealth Managers are subsidiaries that primarily focus on providing asset management services for high net worth individuals and families and endowments. One of our subsidiaries, Legg Mason Capital Management, operates two businesses a mutual funds management business and an institutional asset management business. Legg Mason Capital Managements mutual funds business is included in our Mutual Funds division, while its institutional business is included in our Institutional division. There is overlap among the three groups of subsidiaries as many of our Institutional subsidiaries and Wealth Managers also manage investment funds that are part of the Mutual Funds division and each subsidiary may provide asset management services to other types of clients. For example, many of our Wealth Managers provide asset management services to institutional clients as well as individuals, families and endowments. Our asset management divisions are described in more detail below.
5
Our assets under management by division (in billions) as of March 31 of each of the three years indicated below were as follows:
| 2005 |
2004 |
2003 | |||||||
| Mutual Funds |
$ | 78.4 | $ | 64.3 | $ | 35.9 | |||
| Institutional |
246.5 | 187.0 | 136.8 | ||||||
| Wealth Management |
48.0 | 35.1 | 19.5 | ||||||
| Total |
$ | 372.9 | $ | 286.4 | $ | 192.2 | |||
Mutual Funds includes all assets in our proprietary investment funds, all non-proprietary mutual funds advised or sub-advised by Legg Mason Capital Management and all separate accounts managed by Royce & Associates. Institutional includes all non-proprietary investment fund assets managed by our Institutional managers. Wealth Management includes all non-proprietary investment fund assets managed by our Wealth Managers. In addition, assets managed by other subsidiaries that are not part of our Asset Management business segment are included in Institutional or Wealth Management as appropriate. Effective April 1, 2004, Legg Mason Investments moved from the Institutional to the Mutual Funds division. At March 31, 2005, Legg Mason Investments had $75 million in managed assets.
For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2005, 2004 and 2003, our Asset Management segment produced aggregate net revenues of $1.4 billion, $969.3 million and $648.1 million, respectively. Our net revenues by division (in millions) within our Asset Management segment for each of those fiscal years was as follows:
| 2005 |
2004 |
2003 | |||||||
| Mutual Funds |
$ | ||||||||