Mr. Stephen MacPhail reports

CI FINANCIAL REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND ANNUAL RESULTS: EARNINGS PER SHARE INCREASE 10%

CI Financial Corp. has released audited financial results for the quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2015.

                                        ANNUAL RESULTS 
                          (in $ millions except for per-share data)

                                           Year ended Dec. 31, 2015   Year ended Dec. 31, 2014

Assets under management                                    $111,124                   $102,886
Average assets under management                             108,384                     98,408
Net sales                                                     3,431                      3,928
Net income                                                    553.5                      525.0
Adjusted net income                                           563.7                      520.0
Earnings per share                                             1.99                       1.85
Adjusted earnings per share                                    2.02                       1.83
EBITDA per share                                               3.37                       3.15
Pretax operating earnings per share                            3.20                       2.99
Cash provided by operating activities                         647.4                      702.6
Free cash flow                                                596.6                      557.4

                                        QUARTERLY RESULTS  
                             (in $ millions except for per-share data)

                                             Quarter ended Dec. 31, 2015    Quarter ended Dec. 31, 2014

Average assets under management                                 $108,688                       $101,120
Net income                                                         127.2                          140.4
Adjusted net income                                                137.0                          135.4
Earnings per share                                                  0.46                           0.50
Adjusted earnings per share                                         0.50                           0.48
EBITDA per share                                                    0.83                           0.82
Pretax operating earnings per share                                 0.79                           0.78
Cash provided by operating activities                              146.8                          187.2
Free cash flow                                                     141.6                          148.3

Average assets under management reached $108.4-billion for 2015, an increase of 10 per cent from 2014. At Dec. 31, 2015, CI's assets under management were $111.1-billion, up 8 per cent from $102.9-billion at Dec. 31, 2014. Over the same period, the S&P/TSX Composite Index declined 8 per cent, and the FTSE TMX Canada Universe Bond Index was up 4 per cent. In 2015, CI had gross sales of $15.4-billion, up $1.0-billion from $14.4-billion in the prior year. Total net sales for the year were $3.4-billion compared with $3.9-billion in 2014. Net sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 were $299-million.

Net income for the year was $553.5-million, a 5-per-cent increase over $525.0-million in 2014. Earnings per share increased 8 per cent to $1.99 from $1.85 in 2014. Earnings per share in the fourth quarter were 46 cents, a decrease of 8 per cent from 50 cents in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization per share for the year increased 7 per cent to $3.37 in 2015 from $3.15 in 2014. EBITDA per share for the fourth quarter was 83 cents, a 1-per-cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2014. Pretax operating earnings per share were up 7 per cent for the year and up 1 per cent in the quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2014.

During the year, CI maintained its discretionary spending below the rate of growth in assets under management. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of average assets under management fell to 34.4 basis points in 2015, down from 34.7 basis points in 2014. However, SG&A for the fourth quarter of 2015 increased to 35.4 basis points from 34.1 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2014, as CI continued to invest in sales, marketing and investment management initiatives.

CI generated $596.6-million in free cash flow during the year ended Dec. 31, 2015. This represented a 7-per-cent increase compared with $557.4-million in 2014. CI's cash flow facilitated the repurchase of $243.6-million in CI shares and the payment of $362.2-million in dividends. As at Jan. 31, 2016, CI had 275,700,228 shares outstanding.

"In 2015, CI not only reported record year-end AUM and profits, but we also invested significantly in adding portfolio management resources and enhancing our service offering to continue growing our affluent and high-net-worth business," said Stephen A. MacPhail, CI president and chief executive officer. "This is particularly evident in the success of Stonegate Private Counsel and Assante Wealth Management. In 2016, we expect to see the benefits of these investments, while we continue to focus on efficiently delivering our services."

The board of directors declared a monthly cash dividend of 11 cents per share payable on each of March 15, April 15 and May 13, 2016, to shareholders of record on Feb. 29, March 31 and April 30, 2016, respectively. The monthly dividend represents a yield of 4.7 per cent on CI's closing share price of $28.35 on Feb. 10, 2016.

For detailed financial statements for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2015, including management's discussion and analysis, which contains discussions of non-international financial reporting standard measures, please refer to CI's website under reports, or contact investorrelations@ci.com.

Analyst conference call

CI will hold a conference call with analysts today at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. President and chief executive officer Mr. MacPhail and chief financial officer Douglas Jamieson will be presenting CI's results. Also attending will be Derek Green, president of CI Investments, Steven Donald, president of Assante Wealth Management, and Neal Kerr, president of CI Institutional Asset Management. The call and a slide presentation will be accessible through a webcast at the company's website. Alternatively, investors may listen to the discussion by dialling 416-695-7806 or 1-888-789-9572 (passcode 7958079).

The call will be available for playback until Feb. 25, 2016, at 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053 (passcode 7508195). The webcast will be archived at the company's website.

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