KBW Inc.‘s (KBW) fourth-quarter income slid although investment-banking revenue, capital markets revenue and advisory fees all rose during the period. Income for the three months ended Dec. 31 fell to $3 million from $3.8 million a year earlier. Before items, earnings decreased to 10 cents a share from 15 cents a share for the 2009 fourth quarter. The investment bank reported a loss of 1 cent a share for the quarter after accounting for a special dividend of $1 a share paid in December. For the year-ago quarter, KBW earned 11 cents a share after items. Fourth-quarter revenue rose about 11.5% to $97.1 million from $87.1 million a year earlier. Investment-banking revenue climbed 17.6% to $39.4 million for the quarter and capital markets revenue increased nearly 16% to $28.4 million. KBW said advisory and M&A fees rose 22.5% to $10.9 million. For the full year, KBW earned $26.6 million, or 71 cents a share, up from $23.6 million, or 66 cents a share, for 2009. Revenue for the year climbed 10% to about $425.9 million from $387.2 million. “Overall conditions stabilized in 2010 compared with 2009 and 2008,” Chairman and Chief Executive John Duffy said. “However, we were still faced with periods of uncertainty about the durability of the economic recovery in the U.S. and Europe. While this environment was challenging for several parts of our business, we increased revenue for the fourth quarter and the full year, reflecting record levels for equity capital markets revenue, and made several important investments during 2010 in people to continue to build our financial services specialist franchise.” Write to Jason Philyaw.