Short Term Income Pool

Transcription

1 This annual management report of fund performance contains financial highlights but does not contain the complete annual financial statements of the investment fund. You can get a copy of the annual financial statements at your request, and at no cost, by calling , by writing to us at United Financial, 2 Queen Street East, Twentieth Floor, Toronto, ON, M5C 3G7 or by visiting our website at or SEDAR at Securityholders may also contact us using one of these methods to request a copy of the investment fund s proxy voting policies and procedures, proxy voting disclosure record, or quarterly portfolio disclosure. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE AND STRATEGIES The objective of Short Term Income Pool (the Fund ) is to earn a high level of current income while preserving invested capital and liquidity, primarily through investments in high quality fixed income securities with short term (under five years) maturities. Such investments may include liquid securities of or guaranteed by the Government of Canada or any province thereof, obligations of and deposits in interest-bearing accounts in any chartered bank or trust company, government or corporate bonds and debentures, mortgages or other fixed income investments and preferred stock. The portfolio adviser identifies high quality fixed income securities with short term maturities (under five years) by utilizing fundamental and technical analysis and other rational measures of value. In the event of adverse market, economic and/or political conditions, the portfolio adviser may invest the entire portfolio in cash and/or cash equivalent securities. This Fund may use derivatives, but only as permitted by securities regulations. This Fund may also enter into securities lending transactions, repurchase transactions and reverse repurchase transactions, to the extent permitted by securities regulations, to earn additional income. RISK The risks of investing in the Fund remain as discussed in the prospectus. This Fund is suitable for investors who want a low-risk investment and/or have a short investment horizon. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS The net asset value of the Fund increased by $3.1 million to $40.6 million from December 31, 2016 to December 31, The Fund had net sales of $2.9 million for the year. The portfolio s performance increased assets by $0.2 million. Class W units returned 0.7%, after fees and expenses for the one-year period ended December 31, Over the same time period, the Fund s benchmarks returned 0.1%, 0.6% and 0.3%. The benchmarks are the FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index, the FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index and a combination of the FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index - 60% and the FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index - 40%, respectively. The performance of the Fund s other classes is substantially similar to that of Class W units, except for differences in the structure of fees and expenses. For the returns of the Fund s other classes, please refer to the Past performance section began with geopolitical tensions, fear of trade protectionism and the risk of the far right dominating European politics. The consensus expectations of a pick-up in wage growth, higher inflation, a stronger U.S. dollar and 10-year U.S. rates at 3% did not materialize through the year. Instead, momentum trades, low volatility, tighter spreads and tax reforms in the U.S. were the main stories in Despite the hawkish tone of central bankers across the developed world, global financial conditions remained incredibly supportive and risk assets continue to outperform. This, perhaps, gave the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) the confidence to continue its tightening path and policymakers reiterated their support for a gradual approach to raising interest rates. Even after three interest rate hikes and the initiation of balance sheet normalization by the Fed, the 10-year U.S. rate ended the year at 2.46%. Weak inflation expectations only nudged up moderately in the fourth quarter, which helped rates remain range bound in In Canada, the central bank raised interest rates twice in 2017 and remained concerned about valuations in the housing market and elevated household debt, which makes the economy more sensitive to higher future interest rates. The 10-year Canadian interest rate declined 0.07% in the fourth quarter to end the year at 2.04%, 0.36% over 2017 starting levels. Elsewhere, the European central bank ended 2017 on an optimistic note, raising its growth forecast for the next two years. However, underlying inflation in Europe, as well as in Japan, continues to fall short of central bank targets. Furthermore, the Bank of England took back its post-referendum emergency interest rate cut and hiked interest rates 0.25% as inflation in the U.K reached a five-year high. As rates were hiked in developed markets, rates in some emerging economies facing low inflation, such as Brazil and Indonesia, were cut in 2017 to stimulate their economies. However, in Mexico, despite the NAFTA overhang, the central bank tightened five times in 2017 to counter inflation that hit a 16-year high. The Fund outperformed its benchmarks for the year. The total return of the portfolio was primarily driven by the net compression of government and corporate credit spreads. In value-added terms, duration and yield curve positioning made the largest addition to portfolio alpha, supported by our underweight duration position in the five-year area of the Canadian yield curve amid a hawkish shift from the Bank of Canada. A portion of this underweight was held against long U.S. duration positions, which outperformed relative to their Canadian counterparts, though this was partly offset by residual exposure to a weaker U.S. dollar. Portfolio foreign currency positions are actively managed through a hedging overlay. Within the spread product sphere, exposure to corporate credit, U.S. agency mortgages and emerging market spreads were all beneficial for portfolio alpha, given the outperformance of these sectors relative to their respective nominal government benchmark bonds. CIG

2 The portfolio duration is mildly overweight relative to benchmark, primarily concentrated in the under two-year area of the yield curve. In the spread products domain, we are overweight in corporate credit, underweight in Canadian government agency debt and hold positions in U.S. dollar investment-grade emerging market sovereign debt, agency mortgages and inflation-linked bonds. Late in the year, we added to duration in Canadian bonds throughout the front-end of the yield curve. Meanwhile, in spread products we trimmed positions in U.S. dollar investment-grade emerging market sovereign debt and increased exposure to U.S. inflation-linked bonds following earlier reductions. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Policy interest rates in the United States and Canada are expected to rise gradually in Markets have currently priced in four interest rate hikes for Canada and two for the U.S. over the coming year. Global growth continues to be strong, but weak inflation will put central banks to the test especially if the Fed tightens monetary policy too quickly. It also remains to be seen how Fed policy will change, if at all, under Jerome Powell, the new chairperson of the Fed starting in February A number of downside risks, such as missteps by the current U.S. administration, a correction in asset valuations, international trade concerns amidst NAFTA renegotiation and ever-changing U.S. trade policy, continue to persist. Elections in multiple emerging countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, could give rise to idiosyncratic risks and create opportunities. The yield curve in the U.S. is the flattest it has been since the financial crisis in and we remain cautious in positioning our portfolios as the bond market begins to signal a decline in growth expectations. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Manager, Trustee and Portfolio Advisor CI Investments Inc. is the Manager, Trustee and Portfolio Advisor of the Fund. CI Investments Inc. is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. The Manager, in consideration of management fees, provided management services required in the day-to-day operations of the Fund. The Manager bears all of the operating expenses of the Fund (other than taxes, borrowing costs and new governmental fees) in return for a fixed administration fee. Management fee and fixed administration fee rates as at December 31, 2017, for each of the classes are shown below: Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) Class A Class E Class E Class E Class E Class F Class F Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) Class F Class F Class I Paid directly by investor - Class OF Class W Paid directly by investor 0.17 The Manager received $0.1 million in management fees and $0.05 million in fixed administration fees for the year. Management Fees Approximately 19% of total management fees were used to pay for sales and trailing commissions and other services required. The remaining 81% of management fees were used to pay for investment management and other general administration. Principal Distributor The Manager has the exclusive right to arrange for the distribution of units of the Fund. Pursuant to a series of agreements, the right to distribute such units has been granted, on a collective basis, to the following dealers, each of which is an affiliate of the Manager. Assante Capital Management Ltd. Assante Financial Management Ltd. Inter-Fund Trading Inter-fund trading occurs when a Fund purchases or sells a security of any issuer from or to another Fund managed by the Manager. These transactions are executed through market intermediaries and under prevailing market terms and conditions. The Independent Review Committee reviews such transactions during scheduled meetings. During the year ended December 31, 2017 the Fund executed inter-fund trades. Independent Review Committee The Fund received standing instructions from the Fund s Independent Review Committee ( IRC ) with respect to the following related party transactions: a) trades in securities of CI Financial Corp.; b) purchases or sales of securities of an issuer from or to another investment fund managed by the Manager; c) purchases or sales of other investment funds managed by the Manager or their affiliates; and d) mergers involving the Fund and another fund managed by the Manager that is subject to National Instrument Investment Funds. The applicable standing instructions require that related party transactions be conducted in accordance with the Manager s policies and procedures and that the Manager advise the IRC of any material breach of a condition of the standing instructions. The standing instructions require, among other things, that investment decisions in respect of related party transactions (a) are free from any influence by an entity related to the Manager and without taking into account any consideration relevant to an entity related to the Manager; (b) represent the business judgment of the Manager uninfluenced

3 by considerations other than the best interests of the Fund; (c) are made in compliance with the Manager s policies and procedures; and (d) achieve a fair and reasonable result for the Fund. Transactions made by the Manager under the standing instructions are subsequently reviewed by the IRC on a quarterly basis to monitor compliance. The Fund relied on the IRC s standing instructions regarding Related Party Transactions during this reporting year. 3

4 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS The following tables show selected key financial information about the Fund and are intended to help you understand the Fund s financial performance for the past five years, as applicable. Net Assets per Unit ($) (1) (2) (4) * Increase (decrease) from operations: Distributions: Total Realized Unrealized Total increase From net investment Net assets Net assets at the beginning Total expenses (excluding gains (losses) for gains (losses) for (decrease) from income (excluding From From capital Total at the end of the year of year (2) revenue distributions) the year the year operations (2) dividends) dividends (2, 3) gains Return of capital distributions shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Class A Commencement of operations December 28, 2006 Dec. 31, (0.23) (0.14) (0.08) (0.11) Dec. 31, (0.23) (0.14) (0.07) (0.10) Dec. 31, (0.23) 0.11 (0.04) Dec. 31, (0.23) Dec. 31, (0.23) (0.06) (0.07) (0.04) Class E Commencement of operations October 16, 2008 Dec. 31, (0.21) (0.14) (0.07) (0.09) Dec. 31, (0.21) (0.13) (0.08) (0.10) Dec. 31, (0.22) 0.09 (0.05) Dec. 31, (0.22) Dec. 31, (0.22) (0.06) (0.09) (0.07) Class E3 Dec. 31, (0.13) (0.12) (0.08) (0.12) Class E4 Dec. 31, (0.13) (0.11) (0.10) (0.13) Class E5 Dec. 31, (0.12) (0.11) (0.10) (0.12) Class F Dec. 31, (0.06) (0.11) (0.10) (0.06) *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Net Assets per Unit section of the Financial Highlights.

5 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Net Assets per Unit ($) (1) (2) (4) * Increase (decrease) from operations: Distributions: Total Realized Unrealized Total increase From net investment Net assets Net assets at the beginning Total expenses (excluding gains (losses) for gains (losses) for (decrease) from income (excluding From From capital Total at the end of the year of year (2) revenue distributions) the year the year operations (2) dividends) dividends (2, 3) gains Return of capital distributions shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Class F3 Dec. 31, (0.06) (0.11) (0.10) (0.06) Class F4 Dec. 31, (0.05) (0.11) (0.10) (0.05) Class F5 Dec. 31, (0.05) (0.11) (0.10) (0.05) Class I Commencement of operations November 7, 2008 Dec. 31, (0.17) (0.10) Dec. 31, (0.16) (0.08) Dec. 31, (0.07) Dec. 31, (0.01) Dec. 31, (0.05) (0.07) Class OF Commencement of operations December 23, 2011 Dec. 31, (0.17) (0.15) (0.08) (0.08) Dec. 31, (0.17) (0.11) (0.09) (0.05) Dec. 31, (0.17) 0.05 (0.02) Dec. 31, (0.17) Dec. 31, (0.17) (0.06) (0.09) (0.03) Class W Commencement of operations April 16, 1993 Dec. 31, (0.03) (0.19) (0.09) Dec. 31, (0.03) (0.15) (0.10) Dec. 31, (0.03) 0.09 (0.06) Dec. 31, (0.02) Dec. 31, (0.02) (0.06) (0.06) *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Net Assets per Unit section of the Financial Highlights.

6 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) (1) This information is derived from the Fund s audited annual financial statements. (2) Net assets per unit and distributions per unit are based on the actual number of units outstanding for the relevant class at the relevant time. The increase (decrease) in net assets from operations per unit is based on the weighted average number of units outstanding for the relevant class over the fiscal year. (3) Distributions are automatically reinvested in additional units of the Fund. (4) This information is provided for the years ended December 31.

7 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Ratios and Supplemental Data (1) (5) * Total net assets (5) Number of units outstanding (5) Management expense ratio before taxes (2) Harmonized sales tax (2) Management expense ratio after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the year Trading (%) (2) expense ratio (3) Portfolio turnover rate (4) $000 s 000 s % % % % % % Class A Commencement of operations December 28, 2006 Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Class E Commencement of operations October 16, 2008 Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Class E3 Dec. 31, Class E4 Dec. 31, Class E5 Dec. 31, Class F Dec. 31, *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Financial Highlights section.

8 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Ratios and Supplemental Data (1) (5) * Total net assets (5) Number of units outstanding (5) Management expense ratio before taxes (2) Harmonized sales tax (2) Management expense ratio after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the year Trading (%) (2) expense ratio (3) Portfolio turnover rate (4) $000 s 000 s % % % % % % Class F3 Dec. 31, Class F4 Dec. 31, Class F5 Dec. 31, Class I Commencement of operations November 7, 2008 Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Dec. 31, , Class OF Commencement of operations December 23, 2011 Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Dec. 31, Class W Commencement of operations April 16, 1993 Dec. 31, ,726 2, Dec. 31, ,686 2, Dec. 31, ,870 2, Dec. 31, ,861 2, Dec. 31, ,553 2, *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Financial Highlights section.

9 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) (1) This information is derived from the Fund s audited annual financial statements. (2) Management expense ratio is calculated based on expenses charged to the Fund (excluding commissions and other portfolio transaction costs) and is expressed as an annualized percentage of daily average net assets for the year, including the Fund s proportionate share of any underlying fund(s) expenses, if applicable. The Effective HST tax rate is calculated using the attribution percentage for each province based on unitholder residency and can be different from 13%. (3) The trading expense ratio represents total commissions and other portfolio transaction costs expressed as an annualized percentage of daily average net assets during the year, including the Fund s proportionate share of such expenses of any underlying fund(s), if applicable. (4) The Fund s portfolio turnover rate indicates how actively the Fund s portfolio advisor manages its portfolio investments. A portfolio turnover rate of 100% is equivalent to the Fund buying and selling all of the securities in its portfolio once in the course of the fiscal year. The higher a Fund s portfolio turnover rate in a year, the greater the trading costs payable by the Fund in the year, and the greater the chance of an investor receiving taxable capital gains in the year. There is not necessarily a relationship between a higher turnover rate and the performance of a Fund. Portfolio turnover rate is calculated by dividing the lesser of the cost of purchases and the proceeds of sales of portfolio securities for the year, and excluding cash and short-term investments maturing in less than one year, and before assets acquired from a merger, if applicable, by the average of the monthly fair value of investments during the year. (5) This information is provided for the years ended December 31.

10 PAST PERFORMANCE This section describes how the Fund has performed in the past. Remember, past returns do not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. The information shown assumes that distributions made by the Fund in the years shown were reinvested in additional units of the relevant classes of the Fund. In addition, the information does not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or other optional charges that would have reduced returns or performance. Year-by-Year Returns The following charts show the Fund s annual performance for each of the years shown and illustrate how the Fund s performance has changed from year to year. In percentage terms, the charts show how much an investment made on the first day of each financial year would have grown or decreased by the last day of each financial year, except where noted. Class A Class E Class I Class OF Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Class W Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec return is for the period from October 16, 2008 to December 31, return is for the period from November 7, 2008 to December 31, return is for the period from December 23, 2011 to December 31, 2011.

11 Annual Compound Returns The following table shows the Fund s annual compound returns for each period indicated, compared to the Blended Index composed of: (60% - FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index and 40% - FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index); the TSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index and the FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index. The FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index is a market capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the Canadian investment-grade fixed income market. The Index consists of a broadly diversified range of investment grade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds. The Index consists of fixed rate bonds denominated in Canadian dollars, with term to maturity between one to five years. The Index is a sub-sector of the FTSE TMX Canada Universe Bond Index. The FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index measures the performance of the 91 day Treasury Bill market. Treasury Bills are secured by the full faith and credit of the Canadian Government and offer a fixed rate of return. A discussion of the performance of the Fund as compared to the benchmark is found in the Results of Operations section of this report. One Year (%) Three Years (%) Five Years (%) Ten Years (%) Since Inception (%) Class A (1.2) (0.6) (0.2) 0.9 n/a Blended Index n/a FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index n/a FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index n/a Class E (1.0) (0.5) (0.1) n/a 0.8 Blended Index n/a 2.0 FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index n/a 2.9 FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index n/a 0.8 Class I n/a 2.7 Blended Index n/a 2.0 FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index n/a 2.7 FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index n/a 0.8 Class OF (0.7) (0.2) 0.2 n/a 0.6 Blended Index n/a 2.3 FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index n/a 3.2 FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index n/a 1.0 Class W n/a Blended Index n/a FTSE TMX Canada 91 Day T-Bill Total Return Index n/a FTSE TMX Canada Short-Term Bond Total Return Index n/a 11

12 SUMMARY OF INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO as at December 31, 2017 Category % of Net Assets Category % of Net Assets Top 25 Holdings % of Net Assets Country allocation Canada Other Net Assets (Liabilities) U.S.A Cash & Equivalents Indonesia Mexico Colombia U.K Peru Panama Hungary Philippines Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Sector allocation Provincial Bonds Corporate Bonds Other Net Assets (Liabilities) Foreign Government Bonds Asset-Backed Securities Municipal Bonds Cash & Equivalents Canadian Government Bonds Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Province of Ontario 4.2% 03/08/ Province of Quebec 4.5% 12/01/ Province of Ontario 2.1% 09/08/ Province of Quebec 4.25% 12/01/ Province of Ontario 2.85% 06/02/ City of Montreal 5% 12/01/ Province of Quebec 4.5% 12/01/ Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 3% 10/28/ Province of Ontario 1.35% 03/08/ Cash & Equivalents Sobeys Inc., 3.52% 08/08/ Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 1.9% 04/26/ CIBC Capital Trust 9.976% 06/30/ Bank of Montreal 3.32% 06/01/ Royal Bank of Canada 3.31% 01/20/ Royal Bank of Canada 2.77% 12/11/ Canadian Mortgage Pools 6.45% 01/01/ Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 1.66% 01/20/ Bank of Amercia Corp., 2.604% 03/15/ Nissan Canada Financial Services Inc., 1.75% 04/09/ Reliance L.P., 3.813% 09/15/ Capital Power Corp., 5.276% 11/16/ TELUS Corp., 2.35% 03/28/ Great-West Lifeco Finance (Delaware) L.P., II 7.127% 06/26/ Brookfield Infrastructure Finance ULC 3.538% 10/30/ Total Net Assets (in $000 s) $40,571 The summary of investment portfolio may change due to ongoing portfolio transactions of the Fund and updates will be available on a quarterly basis. A NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This report may contain forward-looking statements about the Fund, its future performance, strategies or prospects, and possible future Fund action. The words may, could, should, would, suspect, outlook, believe, plan, anticipate, estimate, expect, intend, forecast, objective, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both about the Fund and general economic factors, so it is possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of important factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement made by the Fund. These factors include, but are not limited to, general economic, political and market factors in Canada, the United States and internationally, interest and foreign exchanges rates, global equity and capital markets, business competition, technological changes, changes in laws and regulations, judicial or regulatory judgments, legal proceedings and catastrophic events. The above list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. Before making any investment decisions, we encourage you to consider these and other factors carefully. All opinions contained in forward-looking statements are subject to change without notice and are provided in good faith but without legal responsibility. 12