U.S. Global Investors (ticker GROW) posted net income of $3.84 million in its fourth fiscal quarter, down 40 percent from $6.41 million in the same period last year. Net income for fiscal year 2008 ended June 30 totaled $10.84 million, compared with $13.76 million a year earlier.

Assets under management in mutual funds averaged $5.13 billion in fiscal 2008, up from $4.61 billion in 2007.

"There has been tremendous volatility in the financial sector, and GROW's stock price has been dragged down by the problems in the sector, which has seen massive writedowns in the past year," said Frank Holmes, the firm's CEO and CIO.

Holmes noted that his company has no debt in its balance sheets and said returns on capital are "much higher than the financial sector as a whole."

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Company Press Release

SAN ANTONIO, Sep 10, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- U.S. Global Investors, Inc. (GROW), a boutique registered investment advisory firm specializing in natural resources and emerging markets, today reported results for the quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2008.

In the latest quarter, U.S. Global recorded net income of $3.84 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $16.96 million. For fiscal year 2008, U.S. Global recorded net income of $10.84 million, or 71 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $56.04 million.

U.S. Global posted net income of $6.41 million, or 42 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $21.83 million in 2007's fourth fiscal quarter. Net income was $13.76 million, or 90 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $58.60 million in fiscal year 2007.

On a non-GAAP basis, excluding the effect of performance fees, U.S. Global's net income for the latest quarter totaled $2.04 million, or 13 cents per diluted share, and for the full fiscal year, net income was $9.02 million, or 59 cents per diluted share. This compares to net income of $1.20 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007, and $8.00 million, or 52 cents per diluted share, for fiscal year 2007. Please refer to the reconciliation to GAAP-basis financial information following Selected Financial Data below.

Assets under management for SEC-registered funds and other clients averaged $5.44 billion in fiscal year 2008, up 12.2 percent from the previous year. At the end of fiscal year 2008, assets under management totaled $5.75 billion. The company has scheduled a webcast for 10 a.m. Central time on Thursday, September 11, 2008, to discuss the company's key financial results for the quarter. Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer, will be accompanied on the webcast by Susan McGee, president and general counsel, and Catherine Rademacher, chief financial officer. Registration for the webcast is available at www.usfunds.com.

"There has been tremendous volatility in the financial sector, and GROW's stock price has been dragged down by the problems in the sector, which has seen massive writedowns in the past year," says Mr. Holmes. "The negative sentiment for financials across the board is another example of markets not behaving in a rational manner. In GROW's case, we have no debt on our balance sheets and our returns on capital are much higher than the financial sector as a whole. We also have no investments in subprime debt securities in our funds and no investments in structured derivative products in our funds.

"We're in the middle of an important proxy election for the U.S. Global funds that we believe is important because it better aligns our company's culture and values with the funds' performance, and this is the key factor for our fund shareholders. One of our corporate values is to be 'performance- and results-oriented' -- we're successful only when our fund shareholders are successful," Mr. Holmes continues. "While there are no guarantees that the proposals will pass, our proxy solicitor believes that, based on its historical experience, the progress so far has been very positive."

During the 2008 fiscal year, U.S. Global earned $2.7 million in performance fees for providing advisory services to Endeavour Financial Corp., a merchant banking company that specializes in the natural resources sector. This company was known as Endeavour Mining Capital Corp. prior to its acquisition of Endeavour Financial, and afterward it adopted the Endeavour Financial name. A corporate restructuring and a new business strategy also accompanied this merger. U.S. Global earned $1.21 million in fees from other advisory clients in the latest fiscal year.

 

Edited by: Armie Margaret Lee


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