Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. reports third quarter fiscal 2015 results

Announces strategic changes to leadership and operating structure of global capital markets business Excluding significant items, third quarter loss per common share of $0.19⁽¹⁾

(All dollar amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated)

TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2015 /CNW/ - During the third quarter of fiscal 2015, the quarter ended December 31, 2014, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (Canaccord, the Company, TSX: CF, LSE: CF.) generated $166.5 million in revenue. Excluding significant items ⁽¹⁾_, the Company recorded a net loss of $14.3 million or a net loss of $17.4 million attributable to common shareholders ⁽²⁾ (a loss per common share of $0.19). Including all expense items, on an IFRS basis, the Company recorded a net loss of $21.5 million or a net loss attributable to common shareholders ⁽²⁾ of $24.3 million (a loss per common share of $0.27). 

"We are fortunate to have cultivated strong leadership across our global operations," said Paul Reynolds, President and CEO of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. "The steps we have taken to improve and streamline our leadership structure allow us to bring a sharper management focus to our key priorities, to maximize our core strengths for our clients and shareholders."

On February 1, 2015, the Company announced that it had taken steps to reduce the size of its global workforce by 4%, to rationalize operations in light of current market conditions. In connection with this initiative, the Company announces key changes within the executive structure of its global capital markets business. The changes are in the interest of improving collaboration between global teams and accelerating the delivery of innovative thinking and solutions to clients focused on growth.

Dan Daviau has been appointed CEO, North American Capital Markets. In his new role, Dan will take an active role in managing Canadian and US capital markets operations. This appointment reflects Dan's extensive track record of achievement in serving and growing our client base in both Canada and the US and fostering partnerships between our businesses. 

Canadian Investment Banking will be led by an executive team reporting to Dan Daviau comprised of Jens Mayer, who will continue as Co-Head of Investment Banking alongside Sanjiv Saman‎t, who has been promoted to Co-Head of Investment Banking, Justin Bosa, who has been promoted to Head of Diversified Investment Banking and Stewart Busbridge, who assumes the role of Head of Mergers & Acquisitions.  This new team will be charged with continuing to grow and improve our already leading investment bank franchise. 

Dvai Ghose has accepted the role of Global Head of Equity Research, a position that leverages his proven leadership capabilities as Head of Canadian Equity Research and his outstanding track record of delivering world-class research coverage as a top-ranked analyst in his sector. In addition, we are pleased to announce the appointment of  Tony Dwyer and Michael Graham as Co-heads of our US Equity Research division. Both Tony and Michael have extensive experience building successful research platforms with global reach.

Concluding a long and distinguished career at Canaccord Genuity, Matt Gaasenbeek will be stepping down from his role as President of Canadian Capital Markets. For more than two decades, Matt has been instrumental in building the Canadian capital markets team and shaping the growth of our North American equities businesses, having played a key role in the successful integration of our global sales, trading and execution capability. 

Concurrent with these appointments, effective March 31, Phil Evershed has made the decision to leave his role as Global Head of Investment Banking, to focus on opportunities outside of investment banking. Since 2010, Phil has been an integral part of the growth and success of Canaccord Genuity and an outstanding partner and mentor within our global investment banking business. After March 31, Phil will continue as a Special Advisor to the Board of Directors of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.

All appointments will take immediate effect.

Third Quarter of Fiscal 2015 vs. Third Quarter of Fiscal 2014

• Revenue of $166.5 million, a decrease of 28% or $64.5 million from $231.0 million
• Excluding significant items, expenses of $184.1 million, a decrease of 9% or $18.8 million from $202.9 million⁽¹⁾
• Expenses of $192.0 million, a decrease of 7% or $14.5 million from $206.5 million
• Excluding significant items, loss per common share of $0.19 compared to diluted earnings per common share (EPS) of $0.17⁽¹⁾
• Excluding significant items, net loss of $14.3 million compared to net income of $21.2 million⁽¹⁾
• Net loss of $21.5 million compared to net income of $18.3 million
• Loss per common share of $0.27 compared to diluted EPS of $0.14

Third Quarter of Fiscal 2015 vs. Second Quarter of Fiscal 2015

• Revenue of $166.5 million, a decrease of 30% or $69.8 million from $236.3 million
• Excluding significant items, expenses of $184.1 million, a decrease of 11% or $23.3 million from $207.4 million⁽¹⁾
• Expenses of $192.0 million, a decrease of 9% or $19.3 million from $211.3 million
• Excluding significant items, loss per common share of $0.19 compared to diluted EPS of $0.17⁽¹⁾
• Excluding significant items, net loss of $14.3 million compared to net income of $20.7 million ⁽¹⁾
• Net loss of $21.5 million compared to net income of $17.6 million
• Loss per common share of $0.27 compared to diluted EPS of $0.14

Year-to-Date Fiscal 2015 vs. Year-to-Date Fiscal 2014
(Nine months ended December 31, 2014 vs. Nine months ended December 31, 2013)

• Revenue of $648.3 million, an increase of 8% or $46.8 million from $601.5 million
• Excluding significant items, expenses of $607.4 million, an increase of 10% or $54.6 million from $552.8 million⁽¹⁾
• Expenses of $625.6 million, an increase of 10% or $56.7 million from $568.9 million
• Excluding significant items, diluted EPS of $0.20 compared to diluted EPS of $0.29⁽¹⁾
• Excluding significant items, net income of $30.5 million compared to net income of $39.8 million ⁽¹⁾
• Net income of $15.0 million compared to net income of $26.1 million
• Diluted EPS of $0.05 compared to diluted EPS of $0.16

Financial Condition at End of Third Quarter Fiscal 2015 vs. Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2014

• Cash and cash equivalents balance of $340.0 million, down $24.3 million from $364.3 million
• Working capital of $422.2 million, a decrease of $47.2 million from $469.4 million
• Total shareholders' equity of $1.11 billion, down $60.7 million from $1.17 billion
• Book value per diluted common share of $8.63, down $0.42 from $9.05⁽³⁾
• On February 4, 2015, the Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per common share payable on March 10, 2015 with a record date of February 27, 2015
• On February 4, 2015, the Board of Directors also approved a cash dividend of $0.34375 per Series A Preferred Share payable on March 31, 2015 with a record date of March 20, 2015, and a cash dividend of $0.359375 per Series C Preferred Share payable on March 31, 2015 to Series C Preferred shareholders of record as at March 20, 2015

SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS

Corporate

• During the third quarter, the Company purchased 807,549 common shares under the terms of its normal course issuer bid (NCIB) to bring the total purchases to 1,186,249 for the fiscal year as of February 3, 2015 (1,071,749 common shares as of December 31, 2014)
• Subsequent to the quarter, the Company appointed Jefferies International Ltd. as joint corporate broker

Capital Markets

• Canaccord Genuity led or co-led 34 transactions globally, raising total proceeds of C$0.9 billion⁽⁴⁾ during fiscal Q3/15
• Canaccord Genuity participated in 77 transactions globally, raising total proceeds of C$6.2 billion⁽⁴⁾ during fiscal Q3/15
• Significant investment banking transactions for Canaccord Genuity during fiscal Q3/15 include:
  • £95.0 million for Ediston Property Investment Company PLC on the LSE
  • US$82.8 million for ORBCOMM, Inc. on the NASDAQ
  • C$80.0 million for AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. on the TSX
  • US$65.0 million for Histogenics Corporation on the NASDAQ
  • C$50.3 million for American Hotel Income Properties REIT on the TSX
  • C$45.9 million for Kinaxis Inc. on the TSX
  • C$45.0 million for NYX Gaming Group Limited on the TSX
  • £36.3 million for Mortgage Advice Bureau on AIM
  • £35.7 million for Chesnara PLC on the LSE
  • C$28.8 million for ProMedic Life Sciences Inc. on the TSX
  • £25.0 million for HICL Infrastructure Company Limited on the LSE
  • AUD$21.3 million for BSA Limited on the ASX
• In Canada, Canaccord Genuity participated in raising $270.9 million for government and corporate bond issuances during fiscal Q3/15
• Canaccord Genuity generated advisory revenues of $22.6 million during fiscal Q3/15, a decrease of $17.0 million or 43% compared to the same quarter last year
• During fiscal Q3/15, significant M&A and advisory transactions included:
  • Agnico Eagle Mines Limited on its acquisition of Cayden Resources Inc.
  • The Co-operative Bank on the £157.5 million sale of Illius Properties Limited to Salmon Real Estate Limited
  • Essar Power Canada Holdings Inc. on its US$65.0 million debt financing
  • EnterpriseDB on its sale to Peak Equity Partners, Milestone Partners, and NewSpring Capital
  • Airclic Inc. on its sale to Descartes Systems Group
  • FranConnect on its majority recapitalization by Serent Capital
  • The Intertain Group Limited on its acquisition of Dumarca Group Holdings PLC
  • IK Investment Partners on the acquisition of Exxelia Group from LBO France
  • SunOpta Inc. on the C$37.5 million divestiture of its fibre and starch business
  • Resources Prima Group Limited (formerly Sky One Holdings Limited) on the acquisition of Energy Prima Pte. Limited

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (Global)

• Globally, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management generated $59.6 million in revenue in Q3/15
• Assets under administration in Canada and assets under management in the UK & Europe and Australia were $31.3 billion at the end of Q3/15⁽³⁾

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (North America)

• Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (North America) generated $28.3 million in revenue and, after intersegment allocations, recorded a net loss of $1.8 million before taxes in Q3/15
• Assets under administration in Canada were $10.3 billion as at December 31, 2014, down 4% from $10.8 billion at the end of the previous quarter and up 8% from $9.5 billion at the end of fiscal Q3/14⁽³⁾
• Assets under management in Canada (discretionary) were $1.44 billion as at December 31, 2014, up 4% from $1.39 billion at the end of the previous quarter and up 35% from $1.07 billion at the end of fiscal Q3/14⁽³⁾
• As at December 31, 2014, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management had 161 Advisory Teams⁽⁵⁾, a decrease of one Advisory Team from September 30, 2014 and a decrease of two from December 31, 2013

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (UK & Europe)

• Wealth management operations in the UK & Europe generated $30.0 million in revenue and, after intersegment allocations, and excluding significant items, recorded net income of $4.7 million before taxes in Q3/15⁽¹⁾
• Assets under management (discretionary and non-discretionary) were $20.3 billion (£11.2 billion) ⁽³⁾ as at December 31, 2014

Non-IFRS Measures

The non-International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) measures presented include assets under administration, assets under management, book value per diluted common share and figures that exclude significant items. Significant items include restructuring costs, amortization of intangible assets, impairment of goodwill and acquisition-related expense items, which include costs recognized in relation to both prospective and completed acquisitions. Book value per diluted common share is calculated as total common shareholders' equity divided by the number of diluted common shares outstanding and, commencing in Q1/14, adjusted for shares purchased under NCIB and not yet cancelled, and estimated forfeitures in respect of unvested share awards under share-based payment plans.

Management believes that these non-IFRS measures will allow for a better evaluation of the operating performance of the Company's business and facilitate meaningful comparison of results in the current period to those in prior periods and future periods. Figures that exclude significant items provide useful information by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of the Company's core operating results. A limitation of utilizing these figures that exclude significant items is that the IFRS accounting effects of these items do in fact reflect the underlying financial results of the Company's business; thus, these effects should not be ignored in evaluating and analyzing the Company's financial results. Therefore, management believes that the Company's IFRS measures of financial performance and the respective non-IFRS measures should be considered together. 

Selected financial information excluding significant items ⁽¹⁾

 (1) Figures excluding significant items are non-IFRS measures. See Non-IFRS Measures above.
n.m.: not meaningful

Fellow Shareholders:

Continuing economic and political uncertainty in many of the regions where we operate contributed to a turbulent capital markets environment throughout much of our fiscal third quarter. The heightened volatility that began late in our second fiscal quarter prevailed through October and November, which led to a postponement of transaction activity in our key markets.

During the quarter, financing values on the TSX and TSX-V plunged 23.4% and financing values on AIM decreased by 17.6% when compared to the same period last year. Despite ongoing and disciplined focus on cost containment, the abrupt decline in global investment banking activity adversely impacted our bottom line performance. For our fiscal third quarter, Canaccord Genuity Group recorded revenue of $166.5 million, a year-over-year decrease of 28%.  Excluding significant items, the company recorded a third quarter loss per share of $0.19. While all regions were negatively impacted by macroeconomic conditions, the most notable decline took place in the UK & Europe. General anxiety surrounding the outcome of the UK elections combined with fears of deflation in the Eurozone significantly slowed activity for our business in the region, which has historically recorded its strongest performance during our fiscal third quarter.

While investments we have made to diversify our revenue streams have limited our exposure to the energy sector in our core Canadian, UK & Europe and US businesses, the sharp decline in oil prices has reduced our expectation for advisory and financing activity in our Hong Kong and Beijing offices, which are closely tied to the energy sector. As a result, the Company recorded a $4.5 million impairment charge related to the goodwill allocated to that region.

Against this challenging backdrop, we have maintained a strong capital position, which safeguards our ability to deliver the breadth and quality of service our global clients have come to expect. At the end of the third quarter, the Company had $422.2 million in working capital and $340 million in cash and cash equivalents.    

We have also upheld our commitment to protecting long-term value for our shareholders through ongoing participation in our NCIB program. During the quarter, the Company purchased 807,549 shares for cancellation, bringing the total number of shares purchased to 1,186,249 for fiscal 2015. And finally, I am pleased to confirm that our Board of Directors has approved a dividend of $0.05 for this quarter.

Subsequent to the quarter, we made some changes to our leadership and operating structure which will impact our results in the near-term, but improve our capital position over time.  Approximately 80 professionals, predominantly in our UK & Europe and US operations, will be leaving the organization under various termination arrangements. We expect this new operating structure to deliver approximately $25 million in sustainable savings on an annual basis over the coming years. These decisions allow us to streamline and strengthen our capital markets businesses and position us well for future outperformance.

Advancing our global leadership and operating structure

The successful integration of our global businesses has fostered the development of a strong culture of leaders who are working effectively to coordinate the extensive experience and capabilities across our regional teams.

We have reached a stage in the evolution of our business where we can confidently streamline our leadership structure to focus on strengthening profitability and protecting our core strengths. At the start of fiscal 2016, Canaccord Genuity will combine its Canadian and US operations into a unified North American business and streamline our four reporting businesses into three, North America, UK & Europe and Asia-Pacific.

This coordinated approach to leadership provides a clear line of sight into the businesses and will increase synergies between our teams. A carefully selected transition committee will manage successful integration of these changes to ensure minimal disruption for our professionals and most importantly, the delivery of innovative ideas and a consistent service model for our clients.

Strong performance during the first half of fiscal 2015 offsets a difficult third quarter

During the quarter, Canaccord Genuity participated in 77 transactions globally, raising total proceeds of C$6.2 billion. Revenues in our global capital markets division were negatively impacted by weak commodity markets and reduced transaction activity in global small-capitalization stocks. For our fiscal third quarter, Canaccord Genuity earned $103.9 million in revenue, a decrease of 39.3% compared to last year. Strong performance in our capital markets business during the first half of our fiscal year helped to offset third quarter losses, and we were able to increase year-to-date revenues by 5.7% compared to the first nine months of last year.

Revenue generated from advisory fees was $22.6 million, a decrease of $17.0 million from the same period last year. We attribute this result to a decrease of $19.6 million in our UK & Europe advisory business. The impact of this decline was moderately offset by improved performance in our Canadian and US advisory businesses, which recorded year-over-year increases of 22.3% and 44.1% respectively.

Increased volatility had a positive impact on our trading business, as revenues from commissions and fees increased by 20.7% to $41.1 million during the quarter. 

Looking ahead, we expect near-term commodity prices to remain volatile, which will support our agency trading business. Additionally, we believe continued weakness in commodity prices will create opportunities in our banking, M&A and advisory businesses, as companies pursue strategies to strengthen their capital base.

Global Wealth Management operations deliver consistent and stable revenue growth

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management earned $58.2 million in revenue, an increase of 6.4% compared to last year. This business accounted for 35.0% of our total revenue during the quarter, an increase of 11.3% over the previous fiscal year and a testament to the diversification, stability and consistency of revenues that we receive from this business.

Total assets under administration and management grew to $31.3 billion at the end of the quarter, an increase of $2.3 billion, or 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

In the UK & Europe, this consistency in earnings was evident as Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management recorded $30.0 million in revenue, which, excluding significant items, translated to $4.7 million in net income before taxes, a 35.3% increase from the same period last year. The recent successful implementation of a sophisticated software platform provides this business with the necessary infrastructure to support significant expansion in the region.

In Canada, discretionary assets under management increased to $1.4 billion, an improvement of 34.7% compared to the same period last year. In November, we launched our proprietary asset management platform, Canaccord Genuity Global Portfolio Solutions (GPS), across Canada. Early response to the product has been strong and we expect growing client investment in our range of GPS Optimized Portfolios to meaningfully increase assets under management in this business over the coming years.

Outlook

The market environment at the end of calendar 2014 had a disappointing impact on our quarterly results, but we remain confident in our business mix, our market position, and the opportunities ahead of us. 

While the impact of developments in the energy sector leads us to adopt a cautious outlook for our capital markets business, we believe our diverse global platform provides us with a strong position to capitalize on the opportunities that lower oil prices will create in other areas of the global mid-market.

Our priorities for our capital markets business center on increasing profitability in our core areas of strength, and on the delivery of long-term value for our clients and our shareholders. As an independent investment bank with a focus on the global mid-market, we expect to make adjustments in our business mix over time to adapt to changes in market conditions. 

For our global wealth management business, we will continue to focus on growing our share of fee-based and discretionary accounts by continuing to invest in the depth and quality of our offering. We will also continue to actively pursue opportunities to increase our scale in the UK. The strength of our balance sheet and  prudent management of capital resources give us confidence in our near-term ability to pursue aggressive growth for our UK wealth management business. With the exceptional leadership and solid infrastructure we have in place, our objective is to double our assets under management in the UK over the coming years, through organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions.

Subsequent to the quarter, the Company announced the appointment of Jefferies International Ltd. as joint corporate broker alongside our existing corporate broker, RBC Europe Limited. We expect this relationship to contribute to strengthening brand awareness and exposure for Canaccord Genuity in the US and the UK & Europe.

Despite a challenging period in the global capital markets, I am confident Canaccord Genuity has the optimal mix of leadership and global capabilities to operate our business successfully and exceed the changing needs of our clients as we navigate this dynamic market environment together.

Kind Regards,

Paul Reynolds
President & CEO
Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.

ACCESS TO QUARTERLY RESULTS INFORMATION
Interested investors, the media and others may review this quarterly earnings release and supplementary financial information at http://www.canaccordgenuitygroup.com/EN/IR/Pages/default.aspx.

CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST PRESENTATION
Interested parties are invited to listen to the Company's third quarter fiscal 2015 results conference call with analysts and institutional investors, via a live webcast or a toll free number. The conference call is scheduled for Thursday, February 5, 2015 at 5:00 a.m. Pacific time, 8:00 a.m. Eastern time, 1:00 p.m. UK time, 9:00 p.m. China standard time and on Friday, February 6, 2015 at 12:00 a.m. Australia EST.  At that time, senior executives will comment on the results for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 year and respond to questions from analysts and institutional investors.

The conference call may be accessed live and archived on a listen-only basis via the Internet at: http://www.canaccordgenuitygroup.com/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Events.aspx.

Analysts and institutional investors can call in via telephone at:

• 647-427-7450 (within Toronto)
• 1-888-231-8191 (toll free in North America)
• 0-800-051-7107 (toll free from the UK)
• 1-800-760-620 (toll free from Ireland)
• 0-800-917-449 (toll free from France)
• 0-800-183-0171 (toll free from Germany)
• 10-800-714-1191 (toll free from Northern China)
• 10-800-140-1195 (toll free from Southern China)
• 1-800-287-011 (toll free from Australia)

Please request to participate in Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.'s Q3/15 earnings call. If a passcode is requested, please use 55630723.

A replay of the conference call can be accessed after 8:00 a.m. (Pacific Time), 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, February 5, 2015 until March 31, 2015 at 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 by entering passcode 55630723 followed by the pound (#) sign.

ABOUT CANACCORD GENUITY GROUP INC.:
Through its principal subsidiaries, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (the Company) is a leading independent, full-service financial services firm, with operations in two principal segments of the securities industry: wealth management and capital markets. Since its establishment in 1950, the Company has been driven by an unwavering commitment to building lasting client relationships. We achieve this by generating value for our individual, institutional and corporate clients through comprehensive investment solutions, brokerage services and investment banking services. The Company has offices in ten countries worldwide, including wealth management offices located in Canada, Australia, and the UK & Europe. Canaccord Genuity, the international capital markets division, operates in Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Australia and Barbados. To us there are no foreign markets.^TM

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is publicly traded under the symbol CF on the TSX and the symbol CF. on the London Stock Exchange. Canaccord Genuity Series A Preferred Shares are listed on the TSX under the symbol CF.PR.A. Canaccord Genuity Series C Preferred Shares are listed on the TSX under the symbol CF.PR.C.

None of the information on the Company's websites at www.canaccordgenuity.com, www.canaccordgenuitygroup.com, and www.canaccordgenuity.com/cm should be considered incorporated herein by reference.

________________________________
¹ Figures excluding significant items are non-IFRS measures. See Non-IFRS Measures on page 5.
² Net loss attributable to common shareholders is calculated as the net loss adjusted for non-controlling interests and preferred share dividends.
³ See Non-IFRS Measures on page 5.
⁴ Source: Transactions over $1.5 million. Internally sourced information.
⁵ Advisory Teams are normally comprised of one or more Investment Advisors (IAs) and their assistants and associates, who together manage a shared set of client accounts. Advisory Teams that are led by, or only include, an IA who has been licensed for less than three years are not included in our Advisory Team count, as it typically takes a new IA approximately three years to build an average-sized book of business. 

SOURCE Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.