Business development company Ares Capital (ARCC 0.39%) declared an additional dividend on the back of generally improved Q3 results it announced today. The company's bottom line came in at $137 million ($0.59 per share), which is more than triple Q3 2011's result. However, the latter period was negatively affected by more than $100 million in unrealized losses.

Although net investment income was down over that one-year period (by nearly $9 million to $89 million), Ares' total investment income rose by more than $13 million to reach $191 million.

Meanwhile, portfolio investments (measured by fair value) as of the end of the quarter saw a significant year-over-year rise of nearly 25% to $5.9 billion.

The company kept its regular quarterly dividend steady, at $0.38 per share, but tacked on an additional payout of $0.05. Both are payable on Dec. 28 of this year to shareholders of record as of Dec. 14.