Canaccord profit takes hit from anemic markets, chargesReuters
Canaccord Financial Inc.'s third-quarter profit plunged 94 per cent on a weak market and one-time charges, but the core result topped analysts' estimates, prompting investors to push the Canadian brokerage's shares higher.
Vancouver-based Canaccord said on Wednesday it earned $2.5-million, or 1 cent a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31. That compared with a year-before profit of $43-million, or 51 cents a share.
Excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges, the company earned 11 cents a share, beating analysts' expectations of a profit of 8 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shortly after the results were released, its stock was up 33 cents, or 3.8 per cent, at $8.92 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
During the quarter, Canaccord closed its $42.2-million acquisition of 50 per cent of Australian firm BGF Equities and launched a £253-million pound ($398-million) takeover of British broker and advisory group Collins Stewart Hawkpoint.
Revenue in the quarter dropped 42 per cent to $147.9-million, as slumping market activity hurt investment banking and trading activity.
Advisory revenue from subsidiary Canaccord Genuity rose 53 per cent to $38.5-million, however, due to robust cross-border merger activity, the company said.