On Thursday, Winnipeg-based IGM Financial Inc. reported that second-quarter earnings were down slightly from a year ago, while assets under management benefited from strong sales and returns in the quarter.
For the second quarter of 2020, IGM’s net earnings were $183.5 million or $0.77 per share. That compared to $185.1 million or $0.77 per share a year ago.
The firm’s assets under management as of June 30, 2020 were $165.4 billion — an increase of 12.1% from the previous quarter-end but down slightly from the quarter-end record high of $166.8 billion at Dec. 31, 2019.
Total net sales in the quarter were $3.4 billion, compared with net redemptions of $544 million in the same quarter of 2019.
For investment funds, net sales were $864 million, compared with net redemptions of $364 million in the same quarter last year.
In a release, Jeffrey R. Carney, president and CEO of IGM Financial, said client investment returns of 9.7% in the quarter “reflected the largest quarterly gain in the last decade and highlighted the importance of financial planning throughout market cycles.”
Subsidiary IG Wealth Management had investment fund assets under management at quarter-end of $89.5 billion — an increase of 9.3% from $81.9 billion at the previous quarter-end, but a decrease of 0.7% from $90.2 billion a year earlier.
Subsidiary Mackenzie Investments’ investment fund assets under management were $64.6 billion, which was an all-time high. The figure represented an increase of 11.8% from $57.8 billion at the previous quarter-end, and an annualized increase of 5.2% from $61.4 billion.
On Wednesday, Mackenzie Financial Corp. said it was acquiring GLC Asset Management Group Ltd., a subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco Inc.
Power Corp.’s division Power Financial holds a majority interest in Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial, and the two subsidiaries own small interests in each other.