Wealth management division buoys Canaccord through another tough quarter

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. reported flat profit and lower revenue in the latest quarter due to declines in the capital markets business and despite stronger wealth management results.

The firm reported revenue of $337.3 million, down 11.4% from a year earlier, in its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30.

Most of the drop came from the capital markets business, where revenue was down 29.6% year over year. Excluding significant items, the division recorded a $6.3-million loss for the quarter.

Canaccord’s global wealth management revenue increased by 10.6% from a year ago to $187.2 million, and net income before taxes excluding significant items was up by 18.1%.

“Our wealth management business continued to deliver stable earnings contributions, which helped us deliver a breakeven quarter despite losses incurred in our capital markets segment,” Canaccord president and CEO Dan Daviau said Wednesday morning on a conference call with analysts.

Revenue in the Canadian wealth management business decreased by 3.6% from the same period last year to $70.8 million, but net income excluding significant items increased 5.6% year over year to $9.2 million.

Fee-related revenue made up more than half of revenue in the Canadian wealth division, an increase of five percentage points, reflecting an increase in fee-based accounts. That revenue “has helped us drive stable contributions from this business despite the prolonged reduction in new issue activities,” Daviau said.

Client assets in Canada totalled $35.3 billion on Sept. 30, a 4.7% year-over-year increase that Canaccord attributed to net inflows and net assets from recruits. However, assets were down 5% from the previous quarter due to market declines and net client flows.

In some cases, the inflationary environment is causing clients to withdraw assets, Canaccord chief financial officer Don MacFayden said on the conference call.

“Clients have outside pressures where they otherwise might have borrowed to fund something,” he said. “Now, they’re looking at not borrowing and using their assets that we would have otherwise held.”

Canaccord had 147 advisor teams in Canada on Sept. 30, unchanged from the previous quarter. Daviau noted on the call that the firm added two advisor teams this month, which will be reflected in third-quarter results.

Globally, total client assets in wealth management amounted to $93.3 billion, an increase of $4.7 billion or 5.3% year over year.

The U.K. division, which had $52.6 billion in assets, generated $101 million in revenue for the quarter. Last week, the firm announced it had acquired Glasgow-based financial planning firm Intelligent Capital, with $372 million in client assets.

Canaccord also incurred a $15-million restructuring charge from staff cuts disclosed in August. The firm cut approximately 3.7% of its global workforce, with the majority of the departures in the capital markets business, Daviau said on the previous quarterly conference call.