CIX earns $6.08-million in 2023Strong fourth quarter results capped a successful year for CI, with year-over-year gains in adjusted earnings per share, free cash flow and total assets," said Kurt MacAlpine, chief executive officer of CI. "There were numerous achievements across our business segments, demonstrating continued progress in executing on CI's strategic priorities.
"In asset management, we had $340-million in Canadian retail net sales for 2023, a notable accomplishment when the Canadian fund industry had its worst year on record for mutual fund net redemptions. We were the most awarded investment manager in Canada by both Lipper and FundGrade, reflecting the strength of our investment performance and the integrated global investment platform we have built. CI continued to be active in product development, enhancing its existing lineup as well as launching innovative new solutions. These included two best-in-class private markets solutions that bring the world's leading alternatives mangers to Canadian retail investors.
"A key initiative in Canadian wealth management during the year was the rapid scaling of our custody business with the conversion of Aligned Capital assets to the CI Investment Services platform," Mr. MacAlpine said. "Through a combination of external and internal growth, our custody business has increased to $26-billion in assets from just over1-billion in 2018. This has helped to transform the economics of the Canadian wealth management segment, which generated $72.2-million in adjusted EBITDA for 2023, a 33-per-cent increase over 2022 and up from effectively zero in 2019. We also continued to build on CI Private Wealth's position as a leading destination for ultrahigh-net-worth Canadians with the acquisition of Coriel Capital of Montreal.
"In U.S. wealth management, we continue to integrate the business and realize synergies while greatly expanding the services available to clients. Though the most visible accomplishment was the adoption a new unified brand in Corient, there were many important developments behind the scenes in 2023, including the adoption of a centralized reporting structure and a common technology platform. New services during the year included an alternative investments offering, the launch of Corient Trust company, a wealth transfer practice and a personal CFO [chief financial officer] service providing bill payment, accounting and related services. Our integration initiatives allowed us to increase the adjusted EBITDA margin by 440 basis points in 2023.
"We also achieved the full separation of the U.S. business from our Canadian operations, supported by the sale of a minority stake to leading institutional investors and now with the establishment of an independent credit rating for Corient," Mr. MacAlpine said. "The Kroll debt rating of A-minus (stable) reflects the strong cash flow profile and robust EBITDA growth of the Corient business.
"We continue to use our cash flow to repurchase shares due to the disconnect between our share price and the underlying value of the company. Last year, we substantially completed our annual normal course issuer bid and a $100-million substantial issuer bid, and today we are announcing a new substantial issuer bid, under which we will repurchase up to $85-million in shares.
"Over the past four years, CI has transitioned from a highly concentrated business, where most of our assets and virtually all our earnings came from Canadian asset management, to a much more diversified business," Mr. MacAlpine said. "Today, the majority of our assets are in wealth management, our business is well balanced between Canada and the U.S., and wealth management is a very large and rapidly growing contributor to our earnings.
"Given the strategic progress across our business lines and the strength of our capital position, CI is incredibly well positioned for another successful year in 2024."