MUA GROWS TO $18.2B; REVENUE UP 16%
TORONTO, May 15, 2014 /CNW/ - Counsel Corporation ("Counsel" or the "Company") (TSX: CXS), a financial services company, today announced financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2014. All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.
First Quarter 2014 Financial Highlights
- Achieved record mortgages under administration of $18.2 billion
- Mortgages sold decreased slightly to $1.4 billion from $1.6 billion in Q1 2013.
- Revenue increased by 16% to $29.8 million from $25.7 million in Q1 2013.
- Pre-tax income from continuing operations increased by over 150% to $8.9 million from $3.5 million in Q1 2013.
- Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased to $0.07, from $0.02 in Q1 2013.
First Quarter Operational Highlights
- In the first quarter of 2013, Counsel's Board of Directors approved a plan to dispose of the Company's non-core operating business segments - Asset Liquidation, Case Goods and Real Estate - in order to focus on its financial services business. By the end of the first quarter of 2014, the Company had successfully completed this plan.
- A special dividend-in-kind was declared on March 20, 2014, payable on April 30, 2014, to Counsel's shareholders of record as at April 1, 2014, in the amount of approximately 0.2084 shares of Heritage Global Inc. for each Counsel share owned on the record date. The dividend comprised all of the Company's 20,644,481 shares of Heritage Global, its Asset Liquidation business.
- In March, the Company sold its Case Goods business to an investor group led by the President of Fleetwood Fine Furniture.
- Street Capital Financial Corporation ("Street Capital"), the Company's residential mortgage lending business, announced the launch of a Rental Program for the small rental market to further expand its product portfolio and customer offerings.
"During the quarter, we completed the divestiture of our non-core assets in line with our strategy announced last year," said Allan Silber, Chairman and CEO of Counsel Corporation. "We are now solely focused on investing in and growing our financial services business as the platform to create value for our shareholders."
Counsel's revenues are almost entirely generated from its Mortgage Lending business. For the first quarter 2014 revenue was $29.8 million, an increase of 16%, compared to $25.7 million in first quarter 2013. The increase in 2014 was attributable to higher spreads in the credit market and a gain of approximately $4 million from the extinguishment of a debt below face value
Income before income taxes and discontinued operations for the quarter was $8.9 million, an increase of over 150% from $3.5 million in the same period one year ago.
Net loss attributable to shareholders in the first quarter 2014 was $6.4 million, compared with net income of $0.7 million for the same period one year ago reflecting the divesture from the Asset Liquidation and Case Goods businesses and the last Real Estate property. In the first quarter 2014, diluted earnings per share from continuing operations was $0.07, up significantly compared with $0.02 from one year ago.
Mortgage Lending Business
Counsel carries on its residential mortgage lending business through its wholly owned subsidiary Street Capital (www.streetcapital.ca). The company sources its mortgages solely through a network of independent, high quality mortgage brokers across Canada with whom it has built relationships. The company offers a broad lineup of high ratio and conventional mortgages, predominantly to prime borrowers, and sells the mortgages it underwrites to top-tier financial institutions. Business revenues are almost entirely from the gain on sale of mortgages.
In the first quarter 2014, the business generated $25.5 million in mortgage lending revenues consistent with the results recorded in the same period of last year. Mortgages sold experienced a slight decline, which was offset by higher credit spreads.
Operating expenses, consisting of the cost to source and underwrite mortgages sold by Street Capital, totaled $15.6 million in the first quarter 2014, down 11%, compared with $17.6 million recorded in the same period last year.
During the first quarter, Street Capital sold $1.4 billion of mortgages, compared with $1.6 billion recorded in the same period one year ago. The business experienced further growth in its portfolio of mortgages under administration to $18.2 billion at March 31, 2014 compared to $13.3 billion at March 31, 2013.