Canaccord Genuity provides investment banking, advisory, sales and trading, equity research and fixed income services to corporate and institutional clients in Canada, the US, the UK & Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. We are differentiated by our proven execution capabilities and our ability to deliver truly global ideas and perspective in key sectors of the economy. In all regions, clients of Canaccord Genuity enjoy a consistent service offering that is rooted in deep industry experience and focused client attention. Operating as a culture of partners, we promote the sharing of ideas, best practices and value creation opportunities around the world.

During 2016, we placed a stronger emphasis on improving global coordination across our capital markets operations. We also added to the depth and quality of our regional leadership teams and invested strategically to improve our global capability in our core focus sectors. In doing so, we have created a platform that encourages cross-border collaboration and one we expect will create stronger outcomes for our clients and our shareholders.

At every stage of the business cycle, we are dedicated to delivering measurable value for clients focused on growth.

During fiscal 2016, our global capital markets operations earned revenue of $532.3 million. Our US operation was the strongest contributor to this total, with annual revenue of $217.4 million, a record for this business.

Our UK & Europe operation continued to be negatively impacted by the market downturn, most notably during the second half of the fiscal year as issuers remained cautious in their approach to capital raising activities, driven by persistent economic uncertainty and an impending referendum. During the fiscal year, we took steps to significantly refocus this business, to improve its long term stability and profitability. This was also a difficult year for our Canadian business, a historically strong performer. With improving performance in diversified sectors and early signs of activity in the natural resource sectors, we are confident this business will quickly return to material profitability.

In the Asia-Pacific region, our Australian business continues to be a strong and growing competitor. During our fourth fiscal quarter, we announced the sale of our Singapore operations, a non-core asset. This development allows us to provide greater focus on our remaining Asia-Pacific operations, which complement the broader capabilities of our operations in North America and the UK & Europe. We continue to invest in our capabilities in Dubai and Tel Aviv, both of which complement our global capital raising abilities and enhance our global distribution to investors with increasing demand for exposure to investments in global growth opportunities.

While a difficult global market environment continued to impact activity levels across our capital markets operations throughout the fiscal year, we used the period productively to refocus our businesses and align our core offerings, so that we can compete globally in our core focus sectors, increase cross-selling opportunities and, ultimately, grow our profitability.

In the second half of the year, we undertook restructuring initiatives to focus our operations and exit underperforming businesses. A leaner and more focused structure allows us to prioritize coverage in the areas where we can be the mid-market leader, capable of delivering stronger returns in the coming year.

We are beginning to see results of our initiatives to streamline our global capital markets operations and reduce our fixed costs. Excluding significant items, we were able to decrease total expenses for this business by 6% over the fiscal year. The impact of our restructuring initiatives was also evidenced in our fourth quarter general and administrative expense, which decreased by 30% compared to the previous fiscal quarter, while revenues for this business increased by 14% over the same period.

During the year, we reorganized our global sales and trading desks to promote cross-border collaboration and drive cross-selling opportunities, which we expect will strengthen our client relationships and, ultimately, our profitability. Additionally, by enhancing our cross-border equity research and corporate access capabilities, we look forward to improving returns on our marketing efforts, while lowering our overall costs.

We also began the international rollout of Quest®, Canaccord Genuity’s proprietary offering of online analytical tools, valuation models and market commentary. Based on the success of the initial launch in the UK & Europe, we expect Quest® to provide opportunities for revenue growth and to become a valuable tool for enhancing our client relationships.

In all of our markets, we continue to experience an excellent recruiting environment, which we have used to our advantage to strengthen core teams in alignment with our global efforts. We are also fortunate to have cultivated a pipeline of activity in all of our primary markets, and we are very well positioned to successfully execute on these mandates when market conditions permit.

In any market environment, we are relentlessly focused on capturing operating efficiencies and further integrating our global capital markets operations to strengthen cross-border coordination and drive profitability.

Investment Banking

Canaccord Genuity’s global team of investment banking professionals have deep industry knowledge and strong professional ties in key sectors of the global economy, with practical experience in over 70 countries worldwide. Our fully integrated global business provides industry leading independent expertise and direct access to institutional investors around the world. Our specialist teams are closely involved in assignments from initiation to completion and work closely with their global counterparts to ensure that clients benefit from a broad range of experience and expertise. We are committed to adding measurable value at all stages of the business cycle.

During fiscal 2016, Canaccord Genuity participated in 157 transactions to raise $35 billion for global growth companies. Of these, Canaccord Genuity led 66 transactions globally, to raise total proceeds of $4.3 billion.

Throughout the fiscal year, we took steps to better align our global investment banking teams and prioritize coverage in the sectors where we can compete, and win. While our focused sector diversification strategy provides stability, we are also pleased to see resurgence in capital raising activity in the mining and energy sectors. During the fiscal year, we made investments to strengthen our global resource investment banking and distribution capability, and we are confident that we will maintain our position as the leading independent investment bank for the natural resource sectors.

(1) Source: FP Infomart. Transactions over C$1.5 million. Excludes convertibles, preferreds, full credit league table.

(2) Source: ThomsonOne

Canaccord Genuity’s global advisory teams share a relentless focus on developing and executing transactions that define – and redefine – the marketplace. Our talented professionals form a unified and multilingual team, operating from offices in all of our geographies. With our unparalleled service offering and deep regional and global expertise, clients receive strategic advice and idea origination from some of the most experienced professionals in the industry. We commit to our clients for the long run and we believe in building lasting relationships, ensuring a clear strategy and a genuine interest in delivering successful outcomes.

While fiscal 2016 was a challenging year for capital raising activities, firm-wide revenue generated from advisory activities increased by 5% compared to the previous fiscal year and contributed 30% of our total capital markets revenues. Throughout the year, we made further progress to strengthen integration across our global advisory teams. By operating globally, we expect to strengthen our market share and materially improve our performance. Additionally, our independence and global capability are key differentiators for our restructuring and debt advisory business, which contribute to improving opportunities and activity levels in this segment.

Sales and Trading

Our integrated global sales and trading platform delivers powerful distribution and execution capabilities for companies and investors focused on growth. Canaccord Genuity’s global sales and trading team is passionate about connecting the right idea with the right client, at the right time. We are dedicated to developing solid client relationships that allow institutional investors to gain meaningful access to established and emerging entrepreneurs.

From our 14 international trading desks, we are active participants on 10 global exchanges. With experienced professionals located around the world and deep institutional relationships, we take pride in having the broadest account coverage of any mid-market bank.

During fiscal 2016, we were able to increase principal trading revenues by 19.2% compared to the previous fiscal year, led by our US operations. Throughout the year, we reorganized our global sales and trading desks to strengthen collaboration between regions and disciplines and increase impact from our existing offering. Looking ahead, we expect to drive incremental revenue growth through our newly established International Desks in the US, Canada and the UK and increase our share of significant cross-border commission opportunities in our core geographies. During fiscal 2016, we also formed a dedicated resource sales team, to ensure that clients in all regions are able to take advantage of our deep sector expertise and proven execution capabilities.

(1) Source: Bloomberg. Trading volumes April 2015 to March 2016.

We analyze close to 1,000 global companies across a broad range of market sectors, identifying value and defining risk for our clients.

Canaccord Genuity’s global team of research professionals are inquisitive, experienced and committed to generating actionable investment ideas for our clients. We leverage our independent global perspective to clarify current events and anticipate market trends in trusted daily, weekly and monthly publications.

Our clients benefit from our thorough and sophisticated knowledge of the diverse sectors we cover, and as part of our commitment to providing timely and relevant ideas for clients in all markets, we regularly add to our coverage universe.

In many of our markets, we take pride in having the highest rated independent equity research product with more coverage than any of our independent peers.

In fiscal 2016, we continued to improve global coordination of our research offering and broaden our reach to institutional investors around the world. We also eliminated coverage of non-core sectors and made strategic investments to add regional coverage in our core focus sectors, to ensure the delivery of a truly global perspective for our clients.

Quest® is Canaccord Genuity’s proprietary stock screening and idea generation tool. For two decades, clients have trusted Quest® to provide superior data integrity and analytical tools, which help generate and compare investment ideas across sectors and markets, free of objective or bias.

Additionally, Quest® provides the foundation for numerous Canaccord Genuity products and services. The platform provides global strategists, equity research analysts and asset managers with the ability to combine proprietary equity analytical techniques with a wide range of more conventional financial analyses.

A year ago, we relaunched a stronger, broader and more flexible platform. The new Quest® covers an equity universe that comprises 95% of total global market capitalization, on a scalable platform that allows for the addition of new coverage and functionality as market conditions change.

Following the successful relaunch in the UK & Europe, we have begun to introduce Quest® to our clients in Canada, the US and Asia-Pacific. We have also integrated Quest® analyses into many of our global equity research products. Looking ahead, we expect this differentiated offering to provide opportunities for revenue growth and to become a valuable tool for enhancing our client relationships in all of the regions where we operate.