CI Financial reports second quarter results

TSX Symbol: CIX

TORONTO, Aug. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today released unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

QUARTERLY RESULTS (in $millions except for per share data)^1	Quarter ended June 30, 2016	Quarter ended June 30, 2015	% change
Assets Under Management	109,594	108,839	1
Average Assets Under Management	108,994	109,750	(1)
Net Income	128.6	138.9	(7)
Earnings Per Share	0.47	0.50	(6)
Adjusted Earnings Per Share^2,3	0.47	0.51	(8)
Adjusted EBITDA Per Share^2,3	0.79	0.86	(8)
Cash Provided By Operating Activities	160.0	174.1	(8)
Free Cash Flow^3	147.5	151.1	(2)

OTHER METRICS	Quarter ended June 30, 2016	Quarter ended June 30, 2015	% change
Dividends Recorded Per Share (in $)	0.340	0.325	5
Long-Term Debt (in $millions; including current portion)	623.6	383.5	63
Net Debt (in $millions)^3	510.4	266.0	92
SG&A Expenses^4	36.2 bps	33.6 bps	8
Return on Equity^5	27.7%	29.4%	n/a

¹       All results are net of non-controlling interest.

²       Q2-2015 excludes a $4.8 million ($3.5 million after tax) provision for legal costs.

³       Adjusted earnings per share, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), adjusted EBITDA per share, free cash flow and net debt are not standardized measures prescribed by IFRS; however, CI believes that these financial measures provide information that is useful to investors in understanding CI's performance and facilitate a comparison of quarterly and full-year results from period to period. These non-IFRS measures and reconciliations to IFRS, where necessary, are included in Management's Discussion and Analysis available at www.cifinancial.com.

⁴       As an annualized percentage of average assets under management.

⁵       Trailing 12 months.

Average assets under management were $109.0 billion in the second quarter of 2016. This compares to $109.8 billion in the same quarter of the previous year and is up 2% from the prior quarter average of $107.3 billion. CI's assets under management of $109.6 billion at June 30, 2016 were up 1% year over year. In comparison, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was flat and the FTSE TMX Canada Universe Bond Index was up 5% over the same period.

Net income for the quarter of $128.6 million compared to $138.9 million in the second quarter of 2015. The second quarter of last year included a $3.5 million after-tax provision for legal costs. Adjusting for this item, earnings per share were down 8%.

Adjusted EBITDA per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 was $0.79 compared to $0.86 in the quarter ended June 30, 2015.

During the quarter, CI experienced net redemptions of $1.5 billion. This reflected general sales conditions in the industry as well as client redemptions in the institutional channel.

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses as an annualized percentage of average assets under management were 36.2 basis points in the second quarter of 2016 compared to 33.6 basis points in the second quarter of 2015.

"Even in this period of market uncertainty, CI's assets under management have grown to record levels, reaching $113 billion in July" said Peter Anderson, CI's Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to make significant investments in our business where we see strategic opportunities, including our sales team, technology and Assante Wealth Management."

CI generated $147.5 million in free cash flow during the second quarter of 2016 compared to $151.1 million in the second quarter of 2015. CI's cash flow facilitated the repurchase of $73.8 million in CI shares and the payment of $91.7 million in dividends. As at July 31, 2016, CI had 270,925,502 shares outstanding.

The Board of Directors declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.115 per share, payable on each of September 15, October 14, and November 15, 2016 to shareholders of record on August 31, September 30 and October 31, 2016, respectively. The monthly dividend represented a yield of 5.3% on CI's closing share price of $26.22 on August 3, 2016.

For further information and detailed financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, including Management's Discussion and Analysis, which contains discussions of non-IFRS measures, please refer to CI's website at www.cifinancial.com under Reports, or contact [email protected].

Analysts' Conference Call
CI will hold a conference call with analysts today at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Chief Executive Officer Peter Anderson and Chief Financial Officer Douglas Jamieson will be presenting CI's results. Also attending will be Derek Green, President of CI Investments, Steven Donald, President of Assante Wealth Management, Barry Gordon, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Asset Investment Management, and Neal Kerr, President of CI Institutional Asset Management. The call and a slide presentation will be accessible through a webcast at www.ci.com/q2. Alternatively, investors may listen to the discussion by dialling [phone] or 1-866-696-5910 (passcode: 5962809). The call will be available for playback later that day until August 18, 2016 at [phone] or 1-800-408-3053 (passcode: 4366042). The webcast will be archived at www.ci.com/q2.

CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company. Its primary operating businesses are CI Investments Inc., one of Canada's largest investment managers, advisory businesses Assante Wealth Management and Stonegate Private Counsel, and First Asset Capital Corp., a leader in providing actively managed exchange-traded funds to the Canadian marketplace. CI is on the Web at www.cifinancial.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to CI and its products and services, including its business operations and strategy and financial performance and condition. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, including interest rates, business competition, changes in government regulations or in tax laws, and other factors discussed in materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time.

SOURCE CI Financial Corp.

Investor Relations, CI Financial Corp., [phone]