Signature Emerging Markets Fund

Transcription

1 This semi-annual management report of fund performance contains financial highlights but does not contain the complete semi-annual or annual financial statements of the investment fund. You can get a copy of the semi-annual or 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. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS The net asset value of the Fund increased by $9.6 million to $124.9 million from March 31, 2017 to September 30, The Fund had net redemptions of $2.7 million during the period. The portfolio s performance increased assets by $12.3 million. Class A units returned 9.8% after fees and expenses for the six-month period ended September 30, Over the same time period, the Fund s benchmark returned 7.8%. The benchmark is the MSCI Emerging Markets Total Return Index. The performance of the Fund s other Classes is substantially similar to that of Class A units, except for differences in fees and expenses structure. For the returns of the Fund s other Classes, please refer to the Past performance section. Emerging market equities sustained their strong momentum in the second quarter but lost some momentum in June. Dispute the lull spilling over into the early part of the third quarter, emerging market assets continued their stellar performance. Emerging market equities were up 17% during the six months under review, led by the real estate and technology sectors, both up more than 30%. From a country and regional perspective, Asia and, more specifically China, led. The Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMA) region was a laggard but most markets in the region still recorded positive returns. Hungary was a clear outlier with returns of more than 30% during the period. A combination of low interest rates and quantitative easing in developed economies (so-called push factors), stable-to-higher commodity prices and a cyclical recovery in most emerging markets (so-called pull factors) continued to attract capital flows into emerging market assets. Capital inflows into both emerging market bonds and equities are on track toward record, or close to record, annual inflows. Although the pace of inflows has been very strong during the first nine months of 2017, foreign ownership of emerging market debt has not yet reached the highs recorded a few years ago. For equities, the inflow recorded in 2016 and 2017 has not yet surpassed the outflows recorded during the three years between 2013 and The gain in the technology sector was driven by upbeat expectations about the iphone 8 launch due in the second half of 2017, tight memory capacity and a general rotation into global growth stocks. The portfolio ended the 6-month period well above the benchmark. A clear cyclical bias reflecting our increasingly constructive view on emerging markets and stock selection contributed to relative outperformance during the period. The relative outperformance was mainly driven by stock selection, with country and sector allocations also contributing to outperformance. Cash and cash proxies detracted from performance. Cash balances continued to be a drag on performance as the equity market rallied and the U.S. dollar, the base currency for the portfolio, came under broad-based downward pressure. Cash levels remained below 5% of the portfolio for most of the period. ETFs were used to assist with country allocation and keep cash levels below 5% during periods of switching underlying securities. With the exception of one ETF, South Korea, all the ETFs outperformed cash for the period. The underweights in Taiwan (economic structure), South Korea (geopolitical risks), Russia (politics and sanctions) and South Africa (politics) were important contributors to performance during the period. The Russian underweight had been reduced during the period, but the other three underweights remain meaningful. The Mexico underweight (politics and trade) also added to performance. The overweight in the Philippines detracted from performance as the government continued its aggressive and violent anti-drug campaign and the expected pace of tax reforms slowed meaningfully. The overweight in India (reforms and positive political momentum) continues to add to performance. Net sector allocation added to performance, but the underweight in real estate the best performing sector during the period became the biggest sector drag on performance. However, this was more than offset by the underweights in telecommunications and consumer staples. The overweight in technology continued to add to overall and relative performance. Health care was cut to 0% of the portfolio during the period. Stock selection made a meaningful contribution to overall performance, with positive contributions coming from stocks across various sectors although the top list was dominated by technology stocks. Taiwanese electrical component manufacturer FIT Hon Teng Ltd. (a spinoff company from a major Apple supply-chain manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision Industries), together with the Chinese e-commence giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and the Chineselanguage internet media company, Sina Corp., made significant positive contributions to relative returns. Erste Group Bank AG performed well on the back of positive forward guidance and improving economic conditions in Eastern Europe, while the Russian bank, Sberbank, also rallied as investors became more confident about the economic recovery and political environment in Russia. On the consumer side, two Chinese stocks stood out CIG - 662

2 on positive performance: automaker Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. and the sportswear manufacturer, Anta Sports Products Ltd. The most significant stock drag was from Mexican gold company, Torex Gold Resources Inc., which experienced a wall collapse in their pit. Even though the real estate company Gazit-Globe Ltd. was down only 3% during the period, the overall performance of the sector made Gazit one of the more meaningful drags on relative performance. Torex had been sold and Gazit is under review. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The tailwinds from easy monetary policy in developed markets are expected to slowly dissipate during 2018 but are unlikely to turn into outright headwinds as the major central banks around the globe continue to emphasize the importance of a gradual pace of removing easy monetary conditions. Unlike the push factors, pull factors continue to strengthen as the nascent emerging market recovery is gaining momentum, growth in China is stabilizing above 6%, commodity prices are off their lows and positive earnings have returned after an earnings recession in Although earnings are not expected to increase at the same blistering pace next year as in 2017, future earnings growth of just more than 10% should be enough to justify current valuations. We continue to prefer the financial and technology sectors at the cost of health care and telecommunications. Even though India is currently experiencing a growth hiccup, the outlook for the Asia region looks the most promising compared with Eastern Europe and Latin America. Effective April 3, 2017, William Harding ceased to be a member of the Independent Review Committee. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Manager, Portfolio Advisor, Trustee and Registrar CI Investments Inc. is the Manager, Portfolio Advisor, Trustee 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. Management fee and fixed administration fee rates as at September 30, 2017, for each of the classes are shown below: Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) Class A Class A Class A Class A Class A Class A Class E Annual management fee rate (%) Annual fixed administration fee rate (%) Class EF Class F Class F Class F Class F Class F Class F Class I Paid directly by investor - Class O Paid directly by investor 0.15 Class P Paid directly by investor 0.22 The Fund paid the Manager $1.1 million in management fees and $0.1 million in administration fees for the period ended September 30, Management 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. 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 period ended September 30, 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

3 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 period.

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 six periods, as applicable. Net Assets per Unit ($) (1) (2) (5) * 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 period of period (2) revenue distributions) the period the period operations (2) dividends) dividends (2, 3) gains Return of capital distributions shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Class A Commencement of operations September 10, 1991 Sept. 30, (0.28) Mar. 31, (0.47) Mar. 31, (0.48) (0.08) (2.68) (2.91) Mar. 31, (0.49) Mar. 31, (0.45) Mar. 31, 2013^ (0.42) Class A1 Sept. 30, (0.10) 0.67 (0.06) Class A2 Sept. 30, (0.10) 0.54 (0.13) Class A3 Sept. 30, (0.10) Class A4 Sept. 30, (0.09) Class A5 Sept. 30, (0.08) 0.60 (0.26) *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Net Assets per Unit section of the Financial Highlights. ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 6.

5 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Net Assets per Unit ($) (1) (2) (5) * 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 period of period (2) revenue distributions) the period the period operations (2) dividends) dividends (2, 3) gains Return of capital distributions shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Class E Commencement of operations July 29, 2015 Sept. 30, (0.13) Mar. 31, (0.22) Mar. 31, (0.13) (0.67) 0.20 (0.54) Class EF Commencement of operations July 29, 2015 Sept. 30, (0.07) Mar. 31, (0.12) Mar. 31, (0.07) (0.41) (0.61) (1.03) Class F Commencement of operations July 17, 2000 Sept. 30, (0.16) Mar. 31, (0.28) Mar. 31, (0.28) (0.18) (2.45) (2.61) Mar. 31, (0.28) Mar. 31, (0.25) 0.76 (0.13) Mar. 31, 2013^ (0.23) Class F1 Sept. 30, (0.05) 0.68 (0.03) Class F2 Sept. 30, (0.05) 0.52 (0.08) Class F3 Sept. 30, (0.05) 0.59 (0.23) *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Net Assets per Unit section of the Financial Highlights. ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 6.

6 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Net Assets per Unit ($) (1) (2) (5) 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 period of period (2) revenue distributions) the period the period operations (2) dividends) dividends (2, 3) gains Return of capital distributions shown (2) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Class F4 Sept. 30, (0.04) 0.49 (0.03) Class F5 Sept. 30, (0.04) 0.49 (0.03) Class I Commencement of operations July 31, 2001 Sept. 30, Mar. 31, Mar. 31, (0.65) (3.53) (3.85) Mar. 31, Mar. 31, Mar. 31, 2013^ Class O Commencement of operations July 26, 2013 Sept. 30, (0.01) Mar. 31, (0.02) Mar. 31, (0.02) (0.50) (1.31) (1.66) Mar. 31, (0.02) Mar. 31, (0.01) Class P Sept. 30, (0.01) 0.58 (0.10) ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 6. (1) This information is derived from the Fund s semi-annual and 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 period. (3) Distributions are automatically reinvested in additional units of the Fund.

7 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Ratios and Supplemental Data (1) (5) * Number of units outstanding (5) Management expense ratio before taxes (2) Management expense ratio after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the period (%) (2) Total net Harmonized Trading Portfolio assets (5) sales tax (2) expense ratio (3) turnover rate (4) $000 s 000 s % % % % % % Class A Commencement of operations September 10, 1991 Sept. 30, ,808 3, Mar. 31, ,369 4, Mar. 31, ,882 5, Mar. 31, ,582 6, Mar. 31, ,045 7, Mar. 31, 2013^ 148,695 8, Class A1 Sept. 30, , Class A2 Sept. 30, Class A3 Sept. 30, Class A4 Sept. 30, Class A5 Sept. 30, *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Financial Highlights section. ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 6.

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 period (%) (2) Trading expense ratio (3) Portfolio turnover rate (4) $000 s 000 s % % % % % % Class E Commencement of operations July 29, 2015 Sept. 30, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, Class EF Commencement of operations July 29, 2015 Sept. 30, Mar. 31, Mar. 31, Class F Commencement of operations July 17, 2000 Sept. 30, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, 2013^ 5, Class F1 Sept. 30, Class F2 Sept. 30, Class F3 Sept. 30, *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Financial Highlights section. ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 6.

9 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) Ratios and Supplemental Data (1) (5) Number of units outstanding (5) Management expense ratio before taxes (2) Management expense ratio after taxes (2) Effective HST rate for the period (%) (2) Total net Harmonized Trading Portfolio assets (5) sales tax (2) expense ratio (3) turnover rate (4) $000 s 000 s % % % % % % Class F4 Sept. 30, Class F5 Sept. 30, Class I Commencement of operations July 31, 2001 Sept. 30, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, Mar. 31, 2013^ Class O Commencement of operations July 26, 2013 Sept. 30, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, , Mar. 31, Mar. 31, Class P Sept. 30, *Footnotes for the tables are found at the end of the Financial Highlights section. ^Historical figures are based on Canadian GAAP, for more details refer to footnote 6.

10 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (cont d) (1) This information is derived from the Fund s semi-annual and 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 period, 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 period, 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 period. The higher a Fund s portfolio turnover rate in a period, the greater the trading costs payable by the Fund in the period, and the greater the chance of an investor receiving taxable capital gains in the period. 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 period, 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 period. (5) This information is provided for the period ended September 30, 2017 and the years ended March 31. (6) For financial periods beginning on or after April 1, 2013 the financial highlights are derived from the financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). IFRS allows net assets to be calculated based on the last traded market price for financial assets and financial liabilities where the last traded price falls within the day s bid-ask spread. There are no differences between the net assets calculated for purpose of processing unitholders transactions and the net assets attributable to holders of redeemable units used for financial statement reporting purposes. For financial years before April 1, 2013, the financial highlights are derived from the financial statements prepared in accordance with Canadian GAAP. Under Canadian GAAP net assets for financial statement purposes were calculated based on bid/ask price while for purpose of processing unitholder transactions net assets were calculated based on the closing market price.

11 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 periods 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 semi-annual and annual performance for each of the periods shown and illustrate how the Fund s performance has changed from period to period. In percentage terms, the charts show how much an investment made on the first day of each financial period would have grown or decreased by the last day of each financial period, except where noted. Class A Class E Class EF Class F Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Sept Mar Mar Sept Mar Mar Sept Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Sept Class I Class O Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Sept Mar Mar Mar Mar Sept return is for the period from July 29, 2015 to March 31, return is for the period from July 26, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

12 Summary of Investment Portfolio as at September 30, 2017 Portfolio Breakdown Percentage of Portfolio Breakdown (cont d) Percentage of Top 25 Holdings Percentage of Category Net Assets (%) Category Net Assets (%) Security Name Net Assets (%) Country allocation Cayman Islands South Korea India Taiwan China Brazil Hong Kong Canada U.S.A Other Net Assets (Liabilities) U.K Indonesia Cash & Equivalents Russia Bermuda Panama Mexico Argentina Israel Czech Republic Norway Jersey Island Germany Thailand South Africa Singapore Philippines Austria Portugal Chile Malaysia Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Sector allocation Financials Information Technology Consumer Discretionary Energy Materials Industrials Utilities Consumer Staples Other Net Assets (Liabilities) Cash & Equivalents Exchange-Traded Funds Telecommunication Services Real Estate Private Placements Foreign Currency Forward Contracts Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., ADR Tencent Holdings Ltd Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., ADR AIA Group Ltd Housing Development Finance Corp., Ltd ICICI Bank Ltd Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd., Shares H Cash & Equivalents Sberbank of Russia, ADR (London) SK Hynix Inc China Longyuan Power Group Corp., Ltd., Shares H Largan Precision Co., Ltd Intercorp Financial Services Inc Royal Dutch Shell PLC Lundin Mining Corp ishares MSCI India ETF Globalwafers Co., Ltd Raia Drogasil S.A SINA Corp Ivanhoe Mines Ltd Gazit-Globe Ltd Moneta Money Bank AS Parex Resources Inc Statoil ASA Total Net Assets (in $000 s) $124,908 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.