Mr. Peter Anderson reports

CI FINANCIAL REPORTS SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

CI Financial Corp. has released unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2017.

  
                                           QUARTERLY RESULTS (1)
                               (in millions except for per share data)

                                        Quarter ended June 30, 2017 Quarter ended June 30, 2016

Average assets under management                            $122,691                    $108,994
Net income                                                     96.3                       128.6
Adjusted net income (2) (3)                                   141.3                       128.6
Earnings per share                                             0.37                        0.47
Adjusted earnings per share (2) (3)                            0.54                        0.47
EBITDA per share (3)                                           0.85                        0.78
Free cash flow (3)                                            154.8                       147.5

                                         OTHER QUARTERLY METRICS 

                                       Quarter ended June 30, 2017 Quarter ended June 30, 2016

Dividends paid per share (in $)                            $0.3475                     $0.3350
Long-term debt (in $ millions; 
including current portion)                                   909.0                       623.6
Net debt (in $ millions) (3)                                 693.5                       510.4
SG&A expenses (4)                                            0.365                       0.362
Return on equity (5)                                         31.7%                       28.6%

(1) All results are net of non-controlling interest, and reported in Canadian dollars.

(2) The quarter ended June 30, 2017, excludes a $45-million provision for the settlement of 
    outstanding notices of reassessment received for the years 2006 to 2008.

(3) Adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, 
    depreciation and amortization), EBITDA per share, free cash flow and net debt are not 
    standardized measures prescribed by IFRS (international financial reporting standards); 
    however, CI believes that these financial measures provide information that is useful to 
    investors in understanding CI's performance and facilitate a comparison of quarterly and 
    full-year results from period to period. These non-IFRS measures and reconciliations to 
    IFRS, where necessary, are included in management's discussion and analysis available at 
    the company's website.

(4) As a percentage of average assets under management.

(5) Trailing 12 months, calculated using adjusted net income.

Average assets under management were $122.7-billion for the second quarter of 2017, an increase of 13 per cent from the second quarter of 2016. At June 30, 2017, CI's assets under management were $121.1-billion, up $11.5-billion from June 30, 2016.

CI reported gross sales of $3.8-billion for the three months ended June 30, 2017, up $1.2-billion from the same quarter last year, reflecting stronger fund performance, the addition of GSFM, as well as strategic initiatives targeting key channels. Redemptions for the quarter were $3.6-billion, an improvement of $500-million from the second quarter of last year. As a result of higher gross sales and lower redemptions, CI's quarterly net sales turned positive and were at the highest level in almost two years. CI's net sales were $215-million for the quarter, consisting of $248-million for CI and First Asset, $119-million for GSFM's retail funds, and net redemptions of $152-million for GSFM's institutional funds.

Earnings per share in the second quarter of 2017 were 37 cents compared with 47 cents for the same quarter last year. Current income taxes for the second quarter of 2017 included a $45-million provision for the settlement of outstanding notices of reassessment relating to the interest rate charged on subordinated notes within CI's income trust structure for the years 2006 to 2008. CI had previously deposited $173-million with the Canada Revenue Agency in 2015 pending resolution of this dispute and expects the remainder, approximately $128-million, to be returned.

Excluding the above-mentioned income tax expense, earnings per share for the second quarter of 2017 were 54 cents, up 15 per cent from the second quarter of 2016, and up 6 per cent compared with 51 cents for the first quarter of 2017. EBITDA per share was 85 cents for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, up 9 per cent from 78 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, and up 2 per cent from 83 cents per share for the prior quarter.

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses as a percentage of average assets under management were 36.5 basis points, down from 36.7 basis points in the first quarter of this year, and up from 36.2 basis points for the same quarter in 2016. The increase from the same quarter of last year was primarily due to continued investments in technology, sales and marketing.

CI generated $154.8-million in free cash flow during the quarter ended June 30, 2017, compared with $147.5-million in the quarter ended June 30, 2016. CI's cash flow facilitated the repurchase of $90.0-million in CI shares and the payment of $91.0-million in dividends. As at July 31, 2017, CI had 258,087,353 shares outstanding.

"After a good start to the year, we are very pleased to report continued improvement into the second quarter, with a 15-per-cent increase in adjusted earnings per share and our best quarterly net sales since 2015," said Peter W. Anderson, chief executive officer of CI Financial. "Looking ahead to the second half, we continue to make strategic investments across the company to support further growth."

The board of directors declared a monthly cash dividend of 11.75 cents per share, payable on each of Sept. 15, 2017, Oct. 13, 2017, and Nov. 15, 2017, to shareholders of record on Aug. 31, 2017, Sept. 30, 2017, and Oct. 31, 2017, respectively. The monthly dividend represented a yield of 5.4 per cent on CI's closing share price of $26.26 on Aug. 9, 2017.

For detailed financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, including management's discussion and analysis, which contains discussions of non-IFRS measures, please refer to CI's website under reports, or contact investorrelations@ci.com.

Analysts' conference call

Please note that the time and phone numbers for CI's conference call with analysts have been changed. The new time is 11 a.m. Eastern Time today. The call will be led by chief executive officer Peter Anderson and chief financial officer Douglas Jamieson. A slide presentation will be accessible through a webcast at the company's website. Investors may listen to the discussion by dialling the updated numbers: 416-641-6104 or 1-800-952-5114 (passcode: 5415686 (pound sign)).

A replay of the call will be available until Aug. 24, 2017, at 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053 (passcode: 7326905 (pound sign)). The webcast will be archived at the company's website.

CI Financial is an independent, Canadian-owned wealth management company with approximately $161.7-billion in assets as of June 30, 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.

We seek Safe Harbor.