Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. I'd like to welcome everyone to the Canaccord Genuinity Group Inc. Fiscal 2025 First Quarter Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Following the speaker's prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. If you have any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star and then zero for the operator assistance at any time. As a reminder, this conference call is being broadcast live, online, and recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Dan DeVio, Chairman and CEO.

Please go ahead. Thank you, Operator, and welcome to those of you joining us for today's call.

As always, I'm joined by our Chief Financial Officer, Nadine Hahn. Our remarks today are complementary to the earnings release, MD&A, and supplemental financials, copies of which have been made available for download on CDAR Plus and on the Investor Relations section of our website at cgf.com. Nadine will also be referring to our investor presentation. available on our website and through the online portal for this conference call. Within our update, certain reported information has been adjusted to exclude significant items to provide a transparent and comparative view of our operating performance. These adjusted items are non-IFRS measures. Please refer to our notice regarding forward-looking statements and the description of non-IFRS financial measures that appear in our MD&A. And with that, let's discuss our first quarter fiscal 2026 results. Our first fiscal quarter was characterized by rapidly changing market conditions, which were primarily driven by trade and policy uncertainty. Following the announcement of substantial U.S. tariffs on key trading partners, global markets initially sold off but quickly reversed in news of the 90-day pause. For the three-month period, we reported consolidated revenue of $448 million, which improved by 5% year-over-year, but declined by 3% sequentially. Our wealth business delivered consistent top-line growth, contributing 54% of total revenue for the quarter, with new quarterly records in the UK and Australia. Revenue in our capital markets division declined modestly when compared to the previous quarter, and the same period a year ago, but the market disruption in early April had a notable impact on the revenue mix. Broad market M&A activity during the quarter was tilted towards large cap deals, while policy and trade uncertainty stalled deal completions for many of the small and mid-cap focus sectors that we serve. As a result, the revenue contribution from our advisory segment fell 27% year-over-year and 46% sequentially, with the sharpest impact observed in our U.S. operations. Our trading businesses benefited from elevated volumes on both sides of the downturn, which partially offset the shortfall in advisory revenue. This shift in revenue adversely impacted overall profitability in this division, particularly in our U.S. business. as trading costs rose in line with elevated volumes, while earnings from higher margin advisory work declined. Revenue from capital raising activities improved substantially on a sequential basis, but came in modestly below the same quarter of last year, which was an exceptional period for this segment, largely driven by a more active underwriting environment in Australia and Canada. We completed 93 transactions during the quarter, raising over $16 billion for growth clients, Although transaction volume declined year over year, the average size of the transactions increased by 80%, indicating growing demand within our core focus sectors. The value of client assets in our Wealth Management Division benefited from the market rebound despite the initial decline that was in line with the abrupt market downturn in April. We ended the quarter with a record $125 billion in client assets driven by rising market values and complemented by recruiting and organic inflows. Despite some catalyst-driven outflows amid shifting risk appetite early in the quarter, net organic flows remained positive and the percentage of fee-based asset revenue contributions continued to trend higher. The adjusted pre-tax net income contribution from the division increased by 23% year-over-year, significantly outpacing revenue growth for the same period. We anticipate further gains over the next six months as ongoing organic growth initiatives and our recent recruitment and acquisition activities contribute meaningfully to our pre-tax profit margins. Our wealth management talent pool also continued to expand. with new advisor teams onboarded in Canada and Australia and robust pipelines developing in both regions. In the UK and Crown dependencies, we bolstered our capability by adding investment professionals and specialist teams through targeted recruitment and strategic acquisitions. Efforts to contain our firm-wide non-compensation expenses have continued. though the pronounced shift in our revenue mix tempered the effects of these efforts, resulting in a more modest pre-tax margin improvement during the period. Although our first quarter profitability fell below our expectations, we have had a productive start to the fiscal year. Early indicators point to steady momentum in our wealth management businesses, improving levels of client engagement, pipeline development, and execution across the organization. Reflecting this confidence, our board of directors have approved a quarterly common share dividend of $0.085. And with that, I will turn things over to Nadine.