Waddell Reed Financial Inc (WDR) SEC Filing 10-K Annual report for the fiscal year ending Friday, December 31, 2010

Exhibit 99.1

News Release

Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter Results

Overland Park, KS, Jan. 31, 2011

Sales during the quarter totaled $5.6 billion, an increase of 21% sequentially and 1% compared to the same period last year.  Inflows were $1.2 billion, compared to $658 million during the previous quarter and $2.7 billion during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Annual sales were $21.7 billion, a 10% increase over $19.7 billion in sales during 2009 and the highest annual sales volume in the company’s history.  This year marked the 5th consecutive year of organic growth with inflows of $5.4 billion representing a rate of 7.8%, compared with the industry’s long-term rate of 3.1% (excluding money market flows) or organic decay of 2.5% for the industry’s total asset flows.

Business Discussion

Management commentary

“We ended 2010 with good momentum and, overall, turned in strong investment sales and operating results for the year.  Despite a challenging backdrop, Waddell & Reed achieved numerous important successes,” said Hank Herrmann, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc.  “Sales reached an all-time high and our organic growth rate was more than twice that of the industry.  Our financial advisors made meaningful improvement in productivity, and our Wholesale channel saw increased sales diversification.  Additionally, sales in our Institutional channel improved in both traditional and subadvisory business.  While markets in 2010 were volatile, we were able to showcase our asset management strength with a number of funds achieving top rankings.”

Advisors channel

Quarterly sales in our Advisors channel rose 11% sequentially to $935 million.  Inflows of $10 million during the quarter compared well to outflows of $137 million during the previous quarter, although the latter was negatively impacted by a $110 million internal exchange between distribution channels.  The productivity of our sales force continues to improve.  Productivity per advisor reached its highest level during the quarter at $34.2 thousand and, on an annual basis, improved 28% compared to 2009.

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