Source: The Canadian Press

Canadian wealth-management company CI Financial Corp. (TSX:CIX), one of the country’s largest mutual fund operators, is hiking monthly payouts to its shareholders starting in June.

The Toronto-based company announced the increased dividend Tuesday along with CI’s first-quarter results, which included $74.9 million or 26 cents per share of net income and $336 million of revenue.

The profit was up substantially from the first-quarter of 2009, when Canada and much of the world was in the midst of a major recession, but down from the fourth quarter of 2009 when the economy was growing rapidly.

In the first three months of last year, a period that’s usually busy for Canadian mutual fund companies because of the annual RRSP deadline, CI’s net income was $61.1 million or 21 cents per share with $274.3 million of revenue.

In the final three months of 2009, CI’s net income was a robust $115.8 million or 40 cents per share with $333.5 million in revenue.

CI, a former income trust that paid monthly distributions, said Tuesday that its corporate dividend will rise to 6.5 cents per share for the months of June, July and August from six cents per month in the first quarter.

The monthly dividend rate represented a yield of four per cent on CI’s closing share price of $19.71 on May 10, 2010.

CI’s shares gained 19 cents or about one per cent to $19.90 on Tuesday at the Toronto Stock Exchange.