Signature Global Science & Technology Corporate Class

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 CI Investments Inc., 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 the Signature Global Science & Technology Corporate Class (the Fund ) is to obtain maximum long-term capital growth. It invests primarily in equity and equityrelated securities of companies around the world that have developed or are developing technological products, processes or services. This includes companies that provide goods and services to these companies and companies that the portfolio advisor believes would benefit from advancements and improvements in technology. and e-commerce applications that leverage this infrastructure. We are currently in an unprecedented period of innovation where technology that was once considered science fiction, such as artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, ubiquitous internet access, advanced medicine, robotics, drones, etc. are all a reality today. The pipeline of further advancements also looks promising and includes new technologies such as blockchain and quantum computing, although we are more conservative on the expected implementation of these developments. The portfolio advisor identifies the regions and companies that it believes offer potential for strong growth by analyzing the global economy and industries. The portfolio advisor uses techniques such as fundamental analysis to assess growth potential. This means evaluating the financial condition and management of a company, its industry, and the overall economy. The portfolio advisor analyzes financial data, assesses the quality of management, and conducts company interviews. The Fund may use derivatives, but only as permitted by securities regulations. In order to earn additional income, the Fund may also enter into securities lending transactions, repurchase transactions and reverse repurchase transactions, to the extent permitted by securities regulations. RISK There were no changes to the Fund over the period of this report that materially affected the overall level of risk associated with the Fund. This Fund is suitable for investors who want to invest in technology companies, are investing for the medium and/or long term, and can tolerate high risk. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS The net asset value of the Fund increased by $79.4 million to $268.6 million from March 31, 17 to March 31, 18. The Fund had net sales of $41.1 million during the year. The portfolio s performance increased assets by $48.4 million. The Fund paid distributions totalling $.1 million. Class A shares returned 24.6% after fees and expenses for the one-year period ended March 31, 18. Over the same time period, the Fund s benchmark returned 15.7%. The benchmark is the MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index. The performance of the Fund s other classes is substantially similar to that of Class A shares, 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. Investor confidence in the sector continued to grow as unfolded. Several factors were responsible for the positive sentiment, including the increased adoption of technology, especially by younger generations and emerging nations. There is no doubt that digital products are increasingly pervasive in our lives and that daily engagement is high. This has led to solid underlying growth in many technology categories. Digital disruption was the opposing consideration for investors, notably that legacy businesses that lacked a digital strategy saw declining sales. Coupled with high debt levels, this led to bankruptcy or financial stress for many of these businesses. This increased investor confidence that a premium for the technology sector was warranted to avoid the secular risk of technological disruption. The composition of the Fund was relatively unchanged. We continued to hold a portfolio with many diversification factors. The portfolio is invested in multiple regions such as the United States, Asia and Europe. Although valuations can be high for certain segments of technology, the Fund has adopted a barbell approach where higher valuation names are offset by names that trade on below-market average multiples. Our companies also reflect different growth rates, which also diversifies the portfolio from the volatility and uncertainty often seen with early stage investments. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Although industry fundamentals remain positive, investment sentiment turned in March 18 due to a number of developments. The first was related to market structure as volatility-based funds encountered problems in February. Market volatility subsequently increased and technology, as a key market component, was not immune to these pressures. The second factor is what we describe as techlash a backlash at the rapid advancement of the sector. This manifested itself in different ways: user resistance to the most expensive iphone, concerns over data privacy, and pushback on autonomous vehicle testing after a tragic accident in Arizona. Lastly, the sector was heavily owned at the end of the calendar year. These concerns collectively weighed on the performance of the sector as we closed this review period. The Fund outperformed its benchmark for the reporting period. The performance of the technology sector was outstanding over the period. The sector continued to benefit from the virtuous dynamic that we have previously highlighted, namely that growing uses for the internet have increased the need for semiconductors, cloud computing resources Effective April 3, 18, Karen Fisher became a member of the CI Board of Governors ( BOG ) and the Independent Review Committee ( IRC ) of the Fund. Meanwhile, Christopher Hopper resigned from the role as a member of the BOG and IRC. CIG - 3

2 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Manager, Portfolio Advisor and Registrar CI Investments Inc. is the Manager, Portfolio Advisor and Registrar of the Fund. CI Investments Inc. is a subsidiary of CI Financial Corp. The Manager, in consideration for management fees, provides 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. fee and fixed administration fee rates as at March 31, 18, for each of the classes are shown below: Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) A Shares A1 Shares 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 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. A2 Shares A3 Shares E Shares EF Shares F Shares F1 Shares F2 Shares F3 Shares F4 Shares.8.12 I Shares Paid directly by investor - O Shares Paid directly by investor.15 P Shares Paid directly by investor.22 The Manager received $3.5 million in management fees and $.4 million in fixed administration fees for. Fees Approximately 26% of total management fees were used to pay for sales and trailing commissions. The remaining 74% of management fees were used for investment management and other general administration. Independent Review Committee The Fund received standing instructions from the Fund s Independent Review Committee 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.

3 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 Share ($) (1) (2) (4) * Increase (decrease) from operations: Dividends: Realized Unrealized increase net investment Net assets Net assets at the beginning of year (2) revenue expenses distributions) (decrease) from operations (2) income ) capital Return of capital (2, 3) at the end of shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ A Shares Commencement of operations July 23, 1996 Mar. 31, (.99) (.67) (.83) - (1.5) Mar. 31, (.72) (.32) (1.24) - (1.56) Mar. 31, (.66) 5.58 (5.84) (.64) - (.17) (1.11) - (1.28) Mar. 31, (.59) (.16) (1.25) - (1.41) Mar. 31, (.48) (.34) - - (.34) A1 Shares Mar. 31, (.28) (.) (.25) - (.45) A2 Shares Mar. 31, (.28) (.) (.25) - (.45) A3 Shares Mar. 31, (.27) 1.66 (.16) (.) (.25) - (.45) E Shares Commencement of operations July 29, 15 Mar. 31, (.34) (.23) (.29) - (.52) Mar. 31, (.25) (.11) (.43) - (.54) Mar. 31, (.14).89 (1.55) (.74) - (.6) (.39) - (.45) 8.66 EF Shares Commencement of operations July 29, 15 Mar. 31, (.) (.24) (.) - (.54) Mar. 31, (.14) (.11) (.44) - (.55) Mar. 31, (.7) (.6) (.39) - (.45) 8.67 *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Net Assets per Share section of the Financial Highlights.

4 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Net Assets per Share ($) (1) (2) (4) * Increase (decrease) from operations: Dividends: Realized Unrealized increase net investment Net assets Net assets at the beginning of year (2) revenue expenses distributions) (decrease) from operations (2) income ) capital Return of capital (2, 3) at the end of shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ F Shares Commencement of operations July 17, Mar. 31, (.17) (.19) (.24) - (.43) 11.4 Mar. 31, (.12) (.9) (.35) - (.44) 9.9 Mar. 31, (.) 1.57 (1.5).5 - (.5) (.31) - (.36) 6.97 Mar. 31, (.9) (.4) (.35) - (.39) 7.42 Mar. 31, (.7) (.9) - - (.9) 6.14 F1 Shares Mar. 31, (.17) (.) (.25) - (.45) F2 Shares Mar. 31, (.17) (.) (.25) - (.45) F3 Shares Mar. 31, (.15) (.) (.25) - (.45) F4 Shares Mar. 31, (.14) 1.91 (.74) (.) (.25) - (.45) I Shares Commencement of operations July 31, 1 Mar. 31, (.15) (.9) (1.12) - (2.2) Mar. 31, (.4) (.42) (1.63) - (2.5) 42.8 Mar. 31, (7.18).9 - (.22) (1.42) - (1.64) Mar. 31, (.19) (1.56) - (1.75) Mar. 31, (.42) - - (.42) *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Net Assets per Share section of the Financial Highlights.

5 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Net Assets per Share ($) (1) (2) (4) Increase (decrease) from operations: Dividends: Realized Unrealized increase net investment Net assets Net assets at the beginning of year (2) revenue expenses distributions) (decrease) from operations (2) income ) capital Return of capital (2, 3) at the end of shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ O Shares Commencement of operations July 26, 13 Mar. 31, (.) (.) (.5) - (.9) Mar. 31, (.5) (.19) (.72) - (.91) Mar. 31, (.3) 3.25 (4.34) (.96) - (.) (.63) - (.73) Mar. 31, (.2) (.9) (.7) - (.79) Mar. 31, (.1) 1.47 (2.29) (.74) - (.19) - - (.19) P Shares Mar. 31, (.6) (.) (.25) - (.45) (1) This information is derived from the Fund s audited annual financial statements. (2) Net assets per share and per share are based on the actual number of shares outstanding for the relevant class at the relevant time. The increase (decrease) in net assets from operations per share is based on the weighted average number of shares outstanding for the relevant class over the fiscal year. (3) Dividends are automatically reinvested in additional shares of the Fund. (4) This information is provided for s ended March 31.

6 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Ratios and Supplemental Data (1) (5) * net assets (5) Number of shares outstanding (5) before taxes (2) after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the year (2) Harmonized Trading Portfolio sales tax (2) (3) turnover rate (4) $ s s % % % % % % A Shares Commencement of operations July 23, 1996 Mar. 31, ,246 4, Mar. 31, ,417 4, Mar. 31, ,428 5, Mar. 31, ,79 5, Mar. 31, ,9 5, A1 Shares Mar. 31, 18 21,769 1, A2 Shares Mar. 31, 18 8, A3 Shares Mar. 31, 18 7, E Shares Commencement of operations July 29, 15 Mar. 31, 18 4, Mar. 31, 17 1, Mar. 31, EF Shares Commencement of operations July 29, 15 Mar. 31, 18 2, Mar. 31, 17 1, Mar. 31, a *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Financial Highlights section.

7 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Ratios and Supplemental Data (1) (5) * net assets (5) Number of shares outstanding (5) before taxes (2) Harmonized sales tax (2) after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the year (2) Trading (3) Portfolio turnover rate (4) $ s s % % % % % % F Shares Commencement of operations July 17, Mar. 31, 18,631 1, Mar. 31, 17 13,355 1, Mar. 31, 16,877 1, Mar. 31, 15 14,599 1, Mar. 31, 14 15,921 2, F1 Shares Mar. 31, 18 4, F2 Shares Mar. 31, 18 1, F3 Shares Mar. 31, 18 1, F4 Shares Mar. 31, I Shares Commencement of operations July 31, 1 Mar. 31, 18 15, Mar. 31, 17 14, Mar. 31, Mar. 31, Mar. 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) net assets (5) Number of shares outstanding (5) before taxes (2) Harmonized sales tax (2) after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the year (2) Trading (3) Portfolio turnover rate (4) $ s s % % % % % % O Shares Commencement of operations July 26, 13 Mar. 31, 18 23,73 1, Mar. 31, 17 14, Mar. 31, 16 6, Mar. 31, 15 2, Mar. 31, P Shares Mar. 31, (1) This information is derived from the Fund s audited annual financial statements. (2) is calculated based on expenses charged to the Fund commissions and other portfolio transaction costs) and is expressed as an annualized percentage of daily average net assets for, 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 shareholder residency and can be different from 13%. (3) The trading represents total commissions and other portfolio transaction costs expressed as an annualized percentage of daily average net assets during, 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 % 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, and the greater the chance of an investor receiving taxable capital in. 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, 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. (5) This information is provided for s ended March 31.

9 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 made by the Fund in s shown were reinvested in additional shares 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 s 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. A Shares E Shares EF Shares F Shares Mar. 9 Mar. Mar. 11 Mar. 12 Mar. 13 Mar. 14 Mar. 15 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar. 18 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar. 18 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar. 18 Mar. 9 Mar. Mar. 11 Mar. 12 Mar. 13 Mar. 14 Mar. 15 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar. 18 I Shares O Shares Mar. 9 Mar. Mar. 11 Mar. 12 Mar. 13 Mar. 14 Mar. 15 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar. 18 Mar. 14 Mar. 15 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar return is for the period from July 29, 15 to March 31, return is for the period from July 26, 13 to March 31, 14.

10 Annual Compound Returns The following table shows the Fund s annual compound returns for each year indicated, compared to the MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index. The MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of large and mid cap information technology companies in developed and emerging markets. All securities in the Index are classified in the Information Technology sector as per the Global Industry Classification Standards. The Index is a sub-index of MSCI World Index. 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 (%) A Shares n/a MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index n/a E Shares 24.8 n/a n/a n/a 17.5 MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index 15.7 n/a n/a n/a 17.5 EF Shares 26.2 n/a n/a n/a 18.5 MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index 15.7 n/a n/a n/a 17.5 F Shares n/a MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index n/a I Shares n/a MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index n/a O Shares n/a n/a 25.3 MSCI All Country World Information Technology Return Index n/a n/a 23.4

11 SUMMARY OF INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO as at March 31, 18 Category % of Net Assets Category % of Net Assets Top 25 Holdings % of Net Assets Country allocation U.S.A Cayman Islands Cash & Equivalents Taiwan Canada Germany South Korea Japan Malaysia Netherlands China Singapore U.K Foreign Currency Forward Contracts... (.2) Other Net Assets (Liabilities)... (1.) Sector allocation Information Technology Consumer Discretionary Cash & Equivalents Financials Private Placements....7 Foreign Currency Forward Contracts... (.2) Other Net Assets (Liabilities)... (1.) Apple Inc Cash & Equivalents Microsoft Corp Intel Corp Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., ADR Alphabet Inc., Class C Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Amazon.com Inc Cisco Systems Inc NVIDIA Corp Applied Materials Inc Advanced Micro Devices Inc Lam Research Corp Siltronic AG Micron Technology Inc GDS Holdings Ltd., ADR Splunk Inc Tencent Holdings Ltd GlobalWafers Co., Ltd Shopify Inc Sony Corp BlackBerry Ltd. (USD) Delivery Hero AG STMicroelectronics N.V Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., Shares H Net Assets (in $ s) $268,644 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.