Q4 2005 Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Waddell & Reed fourth quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Following today's presentation, instructions will be given for the question-and-answer session. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, Tuesday, January 31, 2005 -- 2006 sorry. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Hank Herrmann. Please go ahead, sir.

HANK HERRMANN, CEO, WADDELL & REED FINANCIAL INC.: Good morning. With me today is Tom Butch, our Chief Marketing Officer; Mike Strohm, our Chief Operating Officer; Dan Connealy, our Chief Financial Officer; and Nicole McIntosh, our Manager of Investor Relations. Nicole would you read the following forward-looking statements please?

NICOLE MCINTOSH, DIRECTOR OF IR, WADDELL & REED FINANCIAL INC.: During this call, some of our responses and commentaries will include forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainty. While we believe these statements to be reasonable based on information that is currently available to us, actual results and outcomes could materially differ from those expressed or implied. We refer you to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information regarding these risks and uncertainties. We assume no duty to update any forward-looking statements. We also posted schedules on our Web site at Waddell.com in the corporate section under the cash and data table.

HANK HERRMANN: Thank you, Nicole. Hopefully you have all had a chance to look at our press release. Let me summarize the main points we made. We noted 2005 was a year of change for us with focus on distribution primarily. The biggest changes were in our Advisors channel. The most progress in the numbers was made in the nonproprietary channel.

Regarding the Advisors channel, new leadership was put in place in late winter, with Tom Butch taking overall responsibility for the channel. A new national sales manager and an associate manager were also named. Extensive improvements and support structure for our field have been implemented. Broadly, these are focused upon emphasizing field management's responsibilities toward education and training, and reducing their burdens regarding other activities more effectively addressed in Kansas City.

Those activities include recruiting, sales support, compliance, and audit. A wholesaler effort within that channel and internal recruiting desk, integrated sales help desks structured by product area, variable annuities, insurance, mutual funds, financial plans, etc., were all established. Results so far are encouraging. Gross sales in the Advisory channel were up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter and 1.4% sequentially after a particularly strong third quarter.