TSX Symbol: CIX

TORONTO, May 11, 2017 /CNW/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") today released audited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

Average assets under management were $119.4 billion for the first quarter of 2017, an increase of 11% from the first quarter of 2016. At March 31, 2017, CI's assets under management were $120.7 billion, up $12.0 billion from March 31, 2016.

In the first quarter of 2017, CI had gross sales of $4.6 billion, up 29% from the same quarter of 2016. For the quarter ended March 31, 2017, CI had net sales in Canada of $43 million and Grant Samuel Funds Management of Australia ("GSFM") had retail net sales of $93 million. GSFM also experienced $424 million in net redemptions from low-margin institutional accounts, which resulted in CI reporting $288 million in net redemptions for the period.

Earnings per share in the first quarter of 2017 were $0.51, an increase of 21% from the same quarter last year. The first quarter of 2016 included $9.6 million in after-tax provisions for compensation, legal and tax costs. Earnings per share adjusted for these provisions were up 11% for the comparable periods. Adjusted EBITDA per share was $0.83 for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, up 8% from $0.77 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2016.

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses as a percentage of average assets under management were 36.7 basis points, up from 36.1 basis points for the same quarter in 2016. The increase was primarily due to strategic investments in technology, sales and marketing.

CI generated $153.8 million in free cash flow during the quarter ended March 31, 2017, compared to $143.6 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2016. CI's cash flow facilitated the repurchase of $72.6 million in CI shares and the payment of $91.5 million in dividends. As at April 30, 2017, CI had 261,848,278 shares outstanding.

"CI entered 2017 in a stronger position, as shown by the growth in assets and improvement in fund performance and quarterly sales relative to last year," said Peter Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of CI. "These results show that the strategies we initiated last year are proving successful and, as we enter the second quarter, we continue to pursue new projects across our business aimed at achieving continued growth in Canada and abroad."

The Board of Directors declared a 2% increase in the monthly cash dividend to $0.1175 per share, payable on each of June 15, 2017, July 14, 2017 and August 15, 2017 to shareholders of record on May 31, 2017, June 30, 2017 and July 31, 2017, respectively. The monthly dividend represented a yield of 5.2% on CI's closing share price of $26.90 on May 10, 2017.

For detailed financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, 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, led by Chief Executive Officer Peter Anderson and Chief Financial Officer Douglas Jamieson. The call and a slide presentation will be accessible through a webcast at www.ci.com/q1. Alternatively, investors may listen to the discussion by dialing (416) 340-2217 or 1-800-806-5484 (passcode: 8635623#).

A replay of the call will be available until May 25, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. at (905) 694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053 (passcode: 5492615#). The webcast will be archived at www.ci.com/q1.

CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company with approximately $160.5 billion in assets as of March 31, 2017. Its primary operating businesses are CI Investments Inc., one of Canada's largest investment managers, advisory businesses Assante Wealth Management and Stonegate Private Counsel, Grant Samuel Funds Management of Australia, and First Asset Investment Management, 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.

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