TSX Symbol: CIX
TORONTO, April 1 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today reported gross
sales of $702 million and net sales of $59 million in March. Assets under
management increased by $2.8 billion or 5.5% over the month to $53.2 billion
at March 31, 2009. Total fee-earnings assets were $78.1 billion, representing
an increase of $3.8 billion or 5.1%.
"CI experienced a material increase in assets over the month as global
equity markets rallied," said Stephen A. MacPhail, CI President. "This is a
positive development for fund investors and CI shareholders and marks a
favourable start to the second quarter."
CI subsidiaries CI Investments Inc. and United Financial Corporation had
combined retail net sales of $77 million in long-term funds and net
redemptions of $14 million in money market funds. There were $4 million in net
redemptions related to deposit notes, which reflects a rebalancing of the
deposit notes and not a redemption by clients from the product.
Assets under management at March 31, 2009, consisted of investment funds
at CI Investments and United Financial of $49.2 billion, institutional assets
of $3.7 billion and structured product assets of $379 million. CI also
reported assets under administration of $24.0 billion, which consisted of
$17.7 billion in assets under administration at Assante Wealth Management
(Canada) Ltd. and $6.2 billion in assets under administration at Blackmont
Capital Inc. Other fee-earning assets totalled $942 million.
"Additionally, there was positive news for CI in the recent Ontario
budget with the announcement of a significant reduction in corporate tax
rates," Mr. MacPhail said. "CI's combined tax rate will decline from 33% today
to 25% in a few years, which will increase CI's after-tax income by 12%."
Meanwhile, CI expects to release its financial results for the first
quarter of 2009 on May 12, 2009.
Additional information about CI's sales, assets and financial position
can be found below in the tables of preliminary statistics and on its website,
www.ci.com/cix, in the Statistics section. The sales and assets reported in
this release are the only statistics authorized by CI and CI takes no
responsibility for reporting by any external sources.-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CI FINANCIAL CORP.
March 31, 2009
MONTH-END STATISTICS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONTHLY SALES DATA GROSS SALES REDEMPTIONS NET SALES
RETAIL MANAGED FUNDS (millions) (millions) (millions)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long-term funds $574 $497 $77
Short-term funds $128 $142 -$14
Sales related to deposit notes $0 $4 -$4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL RETAIL FUNDS $702 $643 $59
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEE-EARNING ASSETS February 28/09 March 31/09 %
(millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retail managed funds $46,598 $49,152 5.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Structured products 372 379 1.9%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL retail assets under
management $46,970 $49,531 5.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Institutional managed assets 3,474 3,682 6.0%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL assets under
management $50,444 $53,213 5.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assante assets under
administration(*) 16,975 17,739 4.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackmont assets under
administration 5,954 6,218 4.4%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL assets under
administration $22,929 $23,957 4.5%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CI other fee-earning assets 953 942 -1.2%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL FEE-EARNING ASSETS $74,325 $78,112 5.1%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONTHLY AVERAGE RETAIL February 28/09 March 31/09 %
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monthly average retail
assets $48,237 $47,828 -0.8%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUARTERLY AVERAGE RETAIL
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT December 31/08 March 31/09 %
(millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quarterly average retail
assets $50,380 $48,681 -3.4%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FISCAL AVERAGE RETAIL December 31/08 March 31/09 %
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT (millions) (millions) Change
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year average
retail assets $60,208 $48,681 -19.1%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EQUITY FINANCIAL POSITION
(millions unless otherwise
indicated)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total outstanding shares 293,613,031 Bank debt $931
QTD weighted avg. shares 293,186,982 Cash and marketable
securities (72)
--------------------------------
Yield at $13.99 3.4% Net debt outstanding $859
--------------------------------
In-the-money options 5,057,153 In-the-money option
liability (net of tax) $7
Percentage of all options 68% Terminal redemption value
of funds $795
All options % of shares 2.5% Quarter-to-date equity-
based compensation(xx) $1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(*) Includes CI and United Financial investment fund assets administered
by Assante advisors.
(xx)Estimate partially based on marked-to-market pre-tax option expense
accrual from change in share price and vesting from last quarter-end
($14.50) to March 31, 2009 ($13.99).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEOGRAPHIC EXPOSURE OF AUM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada 46% Asia 3%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States 25% Other 3%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe 9% Cash 14%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth
management company. CI offers a broad range of investment products and
services, including an industry-leading selection of investment funds, and is
on the Web at www.ci.com/cix.
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.
For further information: Stephen A. MacPhail, President, CI Financial
Corp., (416) 364-1145
