The Australian – Blackstone Group posted a wider second-quarter loss, but results beat analysts’ expectations as the private-equity giant reported positive returns and better fund-raising at its credit-oriented and funds-of-hedge-funds businesses.

On a conference call with analysts and investors, chairman and chief Executive Stephen A. Schwarzman said that two-thirds of the companies in Blackstone’s private-equity portfolio expect to see either positive or flat earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or Ebitda.

That’s compared to 35 per cent of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 that Blackstone expects to see gains in that area.

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – In a conference call with analysts yesterday, Joseph A. Ferrara, president, chief executive officer and board chairman of Tollgrade Communications, highlighted the company’s ”transformational activities” during the past quarter, including selling off its cable product line for $3.1 million and closing a deal on a managed services contract expected to bring in $20 million over a four-year period.

But the manufacturer of communications network testing equipment did not experience enough transformation during the past quarter to move into the black. Rather, it reported a second-quarter loss of $1.5 million, or 12 cents per share, on revenues of $10.6 million, compared with a loss of $255,000, or 1 cent per share on revenues of $12.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. The $10.6 million figure does not include $1.4 million from discontinued operations.

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