Earnings call transcript: Power Corporation Q3 2025 earnings beat expectations

Power Corporation of Canada (POW) reported its Q3 2025 earnings, surpassing analysts’ expectations with an earnings per share (EPS) of CAD 1.35, compared to a forecast of CAD 1.32. However, revenue fell short at CAD 4.03 billion against a forecast of CAD 4.21 billion. Despite the mixed financial results, the company’s stock rose 2.92% to close at CAD 69.88, reflecting investor optimism about its strategic initiatives and robust performance across various segments.

Key Takeaways

• Power Corporation’s EPS exceeded expectations, marking a 26% year-over-year increase.
• Revenue underperformed forecasts, declining by 4.28% compared to expectations.
• The company saw significant growth in net asset value and cash balance.
• Strategic investments and partnerships, such as with Baird, are driving future growth.
• The stock price increased by 2.92% in response to earnings results.

Company Performance

Power Corporation demonstrated strong performance in Q3 2025, with adjusted net earnings of CAD 863 million, a 25% increase from the previous year. The company’s net asset value per share rose to CAD 72.24, reflecting a 25% year-over-year growth and a 12% increase from the previous quarter. These results underscore the company’s effective capital management and strategic positioning in the financial services sector.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: CAD 4.03 billion, below the forecast of CAD 4.21 billion.
• Earnings per share: CAD 1.35, surpassing the forecast of CAD 1.32.
• Net asset value per share: CAD 72.24, up 25% year-over-year.
• Cash balance: CAD 1.9 billion, with CAD 1.5 billion available for strategic initiatives.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Power Corporation’s EPS of CAD 1.35 exceeded the forecast by 2.27%, signaling strong profitability despite revenue challenges. The revenue shortfall of 4.28% highlights potential areas for improvement, yet the EPS beat suggests effective cost management and operational efficiency.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Power Corporation’s stock climbed 2.92%, closing at CAD 69.88. This increase reflects investor confidence in the company’s strategic direction and robust financial performance, despite the revenue miss. The stock’s movement positions it closer to its 52-week high of CAD 71.97, indicating strong market sentiment.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Power Corporation anticipates continued momentum into Q4, focusing on organic growth and strategic investments. The company aims for mid-teen total shareholder returns, driven by its emphasis on financial services verticals and alternative investment solutions.

Executive Commentary

CEO Jeffrey Orr emphasized the company’s strategic balance, stating, "We try and do a balance between supporting and investing and growing our current leading franchises." CFO Jake Lawrence highlighted the company’s long-term vision: "One of our unique characteristics is just the willingness to take a long-term view."

Risks and Challenges

• Revenue shortfall suggests potential market or operational challenges.
• Dependence on strategic partnerships for growth could pose integration risks.
• Market volatility and economic conditions may impact investment returns.
• Regulatory changes in financial services could affect business operations.
• Competition in asset management and insurance sectors remains intense.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts probed the company’s buyback strategy and capital allocation, seeking clarity on future investments. Discussions also covered the accounting treatment of Wealthsimple’s valuation and Power Corporation’s approach to long-term strategic investments.

Full transcript - Power Corporation Of Canada (POW) Q3 2025:

Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Power Corporation Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Analysts who wish to join the question queue may press star then one on their telephone keypad. If at any point during the discussion you are having difficulty hearing, please press star then zero for operator assistance at any time. I would now like to remind you that this call is being recorded on Thursday, November the 13th, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Steven Hung, Head of Investor Relations for Power Corporation. Please go ahead, sir.

Steven Hung, Head of Investor Relations, Power Corporation: Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our Third Quarter Financial Results Call. Before we start, please note that a link to our live webcast and materials for this call have been posted to our website, powercorporation.com, under the Shareholder Reports tab. Also, Power Corporation released a new financial supplementary package that can be found on our website as well. Please turn to slide two. I would like to draw your attention to the cautionary note regarding the use of forward-looking statements, which form part of today’s remarks. Please also refer to slide three for a note on the use of non-IFRS financial measures and clarifications on adjusted net asset value. To discuss our results today, joining us are President and CEO Jeffrey Orr and our EVP and CFO, Jake Lawrence. We will begin with opening remarks, followed by Q&A.

With that, I’ll turn the call over to Jeff.

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: Okay, thank you, Steve, and welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining us this morning to discuss the results from the latest quarter. Very strong quarter for Power and the whole group, with three components really on display here: strong earnings growth from the companies, value creation on evidence from our strategic investments, both at Power and at IGM, and then very strong cash flow and build-up of our cash positions. All elements of what we’re doing, I think, on clear display this quarter. From an earnings point of view, it was a very clean quarter. Obviously, it was good conditions. Markets were strong, a very positive environment in which we operate. Notwithstanding that, I think it demonstrated the earnings power of both Great-West Lifeco and IGM’s earnings-driven businesses. Fundamentally, those businesses are growing. They’re in good shape. They continue to build their businesses, but they also earn.

In a clean quarter, it was really demonstrating what kind of earnings power has been created there. On the value creation from the strategic investment side of this, I said both Power and IGM have portfolios of companies that are much higher growth and that are basically valued more on NAV than earnings. In this quarter, two of those companies announced transactions, the Wealthsimple and Rockefeller transactions, that demonstrated not just the quality, but the magnitude of the value creation that can be created in that part of the portfolio. Finally, from a cash flow point of view, we have returned a lot of capital. That is an element of our strategy as well. We stepped up our share repurchases on the back of strong cash flow coming into the company, including from the Great-West Lifeco buyback, which we started to participate in.

That was sending the pickup in the buyback activity, the cash position of Power Corporation had quite a material jump over the quarter. I will just flip forward to page seven and just talk a little bit about the two transactions that were announced this fall. Rockefeller, as I think you are well aware, was an investment that was made, I think it was in the spring of 2023, some nine quarters or so ago. In US dollars, IGM invested $620 million or CAD 835 million, as you see at the bottom of the left-hand page there in Canadian dollars. Rockefeller welcomed a group of new shareholders into the capital stack, and those are all kind of prominent family investors. Moose is, in effect, the Chanel family. It is their Chanel company, basically the Wertheimer family, and the Helbrands run Moose. That is their family office.

Progeny is the Hemingway family from the West Coast of the U.S., and Abrams Capital is out of Boston. They join Viking and the Rockefeller family and, in effect, IGM, the Demira family, if you want to put it from ultimate control here. You have a group of prominent wealthy families that are in behind what’s going on at Rockefeller. A very significant jump in value is the main point here I want to make that you can see in the bottom of the page for IGM. Wealthsimple continues to experience tremendous growth. They crossed recently $100 billion in assets and continue to really grow their franchise, grow the number of clients. They’re just succeeding on all fronts at this point.

They had announced a very successful financing round that was led by GIC and Dragoneer, two obviously very credible investors, but also included some very other prominent investors that you can see at the bottom of the right-hand side there. And our group participated for $200 million, $100 million each for Power and IGM of the $550 million treasury. Once again, at the bottom right, you see the value creation. Power has got its own investment. Across the group, including IGM, principally, you can see the value pickup from just the last quarter. We had marked it up last quarter, but then this financing was done at an even higher mark. Nice to see those two transactions validating the value creation that we see in our portfolio of strategic investments. Page eight, I won’t really go through.

It’s just kind of a summary of financially how we’ve done. With that, I’m going to pass the microphone over to David. Great. Thanks, Jeff. Good morning to everyone joining us. I’m going to begin my remarks on slide 10. As Jeff just commented, we’re pleased to report strong results for the third quarter of 2025. Our adjusted net earnings from continuing operations were CAD 863 million, and that’s an increase of 25% year over year. When we look at the results on a per-share basis, Q3 adjusted net earnings were $1.35, up 26% from last year. The slight uptick versus the overall earnings reflects our buyback activity. Before turning to the operating company results, I just want to remind everyone that our ownership in Wealthsimple across the Power Complex is consolidated at Power Corporation level.

Therefore, the fair value increase in Wealthsimple will not appear in our P&L results. Now moving to our operating company results and beginning with Great-West, whose contribution to Power’s adjusted net earnings was up 16% year over year. The positive results were supported by Great-West’s sixth consecutive quarter of base earnings in excess of $1 billion, including double-digit growth in our U.S. business, Europe, and really notably a strong quarter in the capital and risk solutions business. IGM’s contribution to Power’s adjusted earnings was up 23% year over year, as we saw strong growth in IG Wealth and Mackenzie net flows. The quarter ended with record high AUM and AUA, which were up 14% year over year and increased 7% quarter over quarter.

The results also saw a strong earnings contribution from China AMC, while Rockefeller, which Jeff just spoke to, their earnings in the quarter were positive. Slightly offsetting these results this quarter was GBL’s contribution to Power’s adjusted net earnings, which was a loss of $11 million. The lower contribution in the quarter was due to a fair value loss at GBL Capital, as well as higher operating expenses and lower gains on disposals of investments. Last week, GBL also announced a significant divestment of its GBL Capital portfolio, and the net earnings of the quarter reflect the estimated transaction value on their assets. Moving to our alternative investment platform, Sagard’s contribution this quarter was a loss of $11 million. It was down from positive earnings of $106 million last quarter.

The decrease was primarily driven by higher carried interest expense associated with the fair value increase at Wealthsimple, as well as the impact of acquiring the remaining economic interest in Performance Equity Management, which they increased up to 100%. Power Sustainable reported an improved contribution driven by lower net carried interest expense, as well as lower acquisition costs. Looking at our corporate operations and other segment, we reported an improved contribution, and that was driven primarily by the positive impact of FX gains relating to foreign currency translation on cash balances. Meanwhile, operating expenses were higher due to an increase in long-term compensation expenses and some increased advisory fees. Overall, we are pleased with our group’s strong third quarter results and expect continued momentum to end the fiscal year in Q4.

Turning to the next page, slide 11, looking at our net asset value, we reported net asset value per share of $72.24 as of September 30, 2025. I want to remind the group that 83% of our Power’s gross asset value continues to be driven by our earnings-based businesses, specifically Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial. Second, during the quarter, we experienced strong adjusted NAV growth, which was up 25% compared to the same period last year and up 12% to the prior quarter. Driving that change were increases at all of our publicly reported operating companies, with IGM Financial up 25%, followed by Great-West Lifeco 22%, while GBL rose 18%. The net asset value of Sagard increased 40% year over year, and that was driven by the fair value increase in Wealthsimple I have mentioned.

Meanwhile, Power Sustainable saw a slight reduction in NAV, and that’s related to some asset sales that we announced earlier this year that generated cash for the corporation. On our cash balance, we ended the quarter at CAD 1.9 billion. We see about CAD 1.5 billion available when we factor in dividends to be paid and dividends we’ve yet to receive. As many will have seen, we remained active in our NCIB program. During the quarter, we repurchased 3 million shares worth about CAD 170 million. To date, we’ve purchased 7.4 million shares. We continue to be well positioned to deliver a strong return of capital, as Jeff noted upfront. Year to date, to October 31, we’ve returned over CAD 2 billion to shareholders through a combination of share buybacks and dividends. With that, Jeff, I’ll turn it back to you. Okay, Jake. Thank you.

I will move us forward to page 13. Just a couple of comments about Great-West Lifeco. They continue to meet or exceed the medium-term objectives that they announced several years ago and continue to have strong earnings growth. I thought it was really pleasing to see, and Jake mentioned it was across virtually all the geographies. As well, if you look at it from a business segment point of view, retirement, wealth asset management, insurance, etc., as you look through the different components of it, it was strong across the board. It was also coupled with very high cash generation. Mentioned before that Great-West Lifeco is being very clear as to how the earnings in each of those areas turn into cash generation.

You’re seeing that at the top of the house as the cash continues to build up at the Great-West Lifeco level. The company announced again a buyback earlier this year and then came up with a recent announcement that they’re increasing and extending the buyback programs. As you know, Power Corporation has decided to participate pro-rata in those buybacks now. Just all good news across Great-West, really great momentum in the businesses. IGM as well, then turning to page 14. I think Jake mentioned strong AUA and AUM growth. It’s markets, but it’s also flows. It was really nice to see that both IG Wealth and Mackenzie had very strong flows. Those earnings are also turning into strong cash positions. The financial position of IGM, cash position continues to grow, and they have increased their buyback activity as well as a consequence.

The earnings businesses here are really, really doing well. I’ll just turn you to page 15 and just use this slide to focus on the strategic investment portfolio of IG. There are four businesses there. They’re very high-quality businesses, and they’re growing very strongly. I talked about Wealthsimple and Rockefeller earlier. You see just there the year-over-year growth in AUA and in client assets at the two franchises. On the asset management side as well, China AMC is growing its assets strongly. They’re growing in market share. The company’s doing extremely well. That’s been against the backdrop of mandated fee decreases. The earnings haven’t kept pace, but the earnings have been growing in spite of those fee drops. The health of the business, the growth of the business, and the position of the business continues to be extremely strong.

Northleaf, in a very difficult fundraising environment for alt managers, is doing a really nice job in building up their AUM with some very strong fundraising and performance year over year. A very high-quality portfolio, not currently contributing a lot to IGM’s net earnings, but over time, as these businesses continue to grow and mature, we have four very strong quality businesses that we hope and expect will start to contribute earnings in the years ahead as they get to being in a more mature state. Okay, a couple of comments on GBL then on page 16. We did have mention that a new CEO was announced in the spring, Johannes Hutt, and he has come in and got a very strong track record in his time with KKR, where he was there for, I think it was 25 years.

The basic strategy is the same, which is ultimately to rotate out of the public portfolio over time. With the proceeds that would come from that, combined with an increased focus on private investments and coupled with a return on capital, the return on capital being evidenced through the strong increase in the dividend that they announced earlier this year, as well as strong buyback activities. There has been a significant transaction that Jake mentioned. As Johannes and the team have focused on the private capital, there is in GBL Capital a portfolio of investments in other people’s funds that was part of the previous strategy. The decision was made that that was not strategic. The transaction that Jake mentioned was a trillion, a trillion, that would be nice, a billion of seven euros that was disposed of at about a 9% discount.

When you do secondaries in private alts, you’re typically discounting them. That was actually a pretty good price. 9% discount was not a big discount. They went out and announced a series of transactions with different buyers and disposed of a big chunk of that GBL portfolio of other people’s funds. A good move and more capital coming into GBL. Good, lots of activity there. We’ll continue to watch GBL with interest under the new leadership. A couple of words on the alternative platforms at Power. Ongoing fundraising on page 17 of CAD 2 billion since we last spoke. Continued good progress there. You have on this page the overall AUM in Canadian dollars. We have CAD 49 billion committed capital, of which CAD 39 billion is funded.

What I really want to do then is turn to page 18 and talk about Sagard, who continue to use, in addition to fundraising, strategic transactions, acquisitions, partnerships to build their franchise. They announced in September the Unigestion acquisition, as well as what Jake mentioned, buying in the minority interest of Performance Equity Management. What they have done here is they have created, under one umbrella, a solutions business, if I can put it that way. It is alternative private equities that are focused on primary equity positions, secondaries, co-investments, and effectively mix all that and come up with asset solutions for different client bases. Be they retail, family offices, institutional investors that are looking for portfolios. This part of the business is really thinking of it as putting together packages of alternative assets for different parts of the market.

I guess somewhat analogous, if you want, in the public space, to multi-asset type products versus individual fund sleeves. Think of it that way. They have combined this under one business with, and it has $23 billion of investments. It is focused primarily in the mid-market as opposed to in the larger market. They now have capabilities, both investment and distribution, across North America and Europe. It is a whole new area for Sagard and quite an exciting development that they have done. In addition, they did announce as well a strategic partnership with Baird. It may not be known to all of you, but Baird is a significant US wealth manager, over $500 billion in US client assets, and they are looking for more alts.

They entered into a partnership, took a 5% interest in Sagard, and they are going to work on products with Sagard to bring into their retail and wealth channels. A lot is happening at our platforms. Page 19 continues to, I mentioned earlier, you just see here our return of capital to shareholders over the last several years. I think on the right-hand side, you see the increased buyback activity up to the end of October. Pleased to see the discount narrowing. We can always get into a good discussion. I suspect we will continue to have a discussion about the discount. We are just very pleased to see that there is, I think, increased recognition on behalf of investors as to what we have across the portfolio and how we can drive value from all the different components of our portfolio, as well as I suspect some of that.

But who knows? You’ll maybe tell me some of that is also a reflection of strong cash flow we have and some of the buyback activity that we are doing. You’ve got on page 21 the returns that we’ve generated over various periods going back to the last year, three years, five years, and roughly since we announced the reorganization a couple of weeks after that at the end of 2009. So we’re pleased to see strong performance. I would not expect to see 55% TSRs every year. That’s a reflection of a number of factors in the last year, but we do think we can create, if we execute on our strategy, mid-teen type returns over time. That would be our objective.

Finally, as I roll up on the last slide here on 22, just again to summarize, a really strong quarter, kind of everything working well, very clean. There was not a lot of noise in the quarter, but also good markets, interest rates cooperating. It was just a good quarter where everything worked well. Not every quarter is going to be as clean as that. Markets go up and go down, and that’s fine. From our perspective, it’s fun to enjoy a quarter where everything is working well, but it does not change anything that we’re doing. We’re just executing the same strategy we have been for the last several years. I take, frankly, more satisfaction in just seeing the continued progress of the businesses across Great-West Lifeco at IGM, the progress they’re making.

That steady progress, not of up one quarter, down one quarter, just pleased with the steady strengthening of our franchises. The management teams are in great shape. I look to the rest of the portfolio, the strategic portfolio, the NEV portfolio, we sometimes call it, and continued strong progress. Great quarter. We’ll enjoy it when everything’s working, but everybody’s just got their heads down here and continue to execute on what we’ve been telling you for the last several years. With that, I will end my comments. Operator, you can open up the mics or the call to questions.

Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You’ll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you’re using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. We’ll pause for a moment as callers join the queue. Our first question is from Graham Riding with TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Can you just confirm the alts AUM growth $2 billion in the quarter? Was that fundraising or was that market performance?

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: That is fundraising, and that is committed.

Both.

Simple as well. Thank you.

Okay. I was about to say it was all fundraising. Graham and I got a hook here from Jake. That includes some of the market increase in the Wealthsimple position as well.

It’s a combination of both, Graham. The Wealthsimple increase we’ve obviously shown, and then the net position would be from fundraising primarily.

Okay. So half and half, roughly?

Probably a bit more towards Wealthsimple and then the rest towards fundraising.

Okay. Okay. Thanks for that. The 5% stake from Baird into Sagard, I think you’ve done something similar in the past. Did they put in actual capital here, or is this a commitment for a certain level of AUM? How does that sort of structure look?

They put capital in, and I won’t go into all the details, but there are some adjustments to what the ultimate position can be based on distribution performance on their shelves. They put capital in at the full value, the current value for the 5%.

Okay. Great. Maybe what’s your ownership stake going forward in Sagard? Can you give an update on the AUM growth and the flows that you’ve seen from other wealth channel partnerships that you’ve done in the past? I think you did something similar with Baird last year. Just maybe an update on any traction from flows from those sort of wealth partnerships.

Our equity position in Sagard is at about 45% right now following these transactions. I do not have in front of me here a summary of the flows that have come through retail channels. We can try and pull that information together, but I would be misleading you, or I do not have the numbers in front of me. I think what you will see, though, because it is not just at Sagard, I am going to broaden your question out, Graham. We have got activity going on, for example, at IGM, where IGM has got Northleaf, and they are also working with other parts of the alt platforms across Power and other suppliers. Mackenzie is doing retail funds, and IGM is putting alts into their different shelf programs. You have obviously got Empower looking at it.

Across the group, you’ve got the phenomena that’s happening in the industry where you’re taking alts and putting them into retail products and high-net-worth products. They tend to go through a long period where not a lot of flows happen. You’re putting structures together. You’re educating advisors. You’re getting on shelves. You’re going through the different control mechanisms on different wealth platforms to get on. There’s kind of a long lead time, and then the sales start to pick up. At a certain point, the hope is they take off. We’re starting to see that. The numbers, I think if you added it all up, I’m just foretelling because I’ve seen the numbers all in pieces. I haven’t kind of seen them all together in one spot.

I don’t think they’re hugely material at this point, but the growth of them is really starting to accelerate. I’m foretelling what I think the story is, but we’ll try and figure out whether we can pull together some numbers for you and for others. Obviously, we’ll disclose it to everyone.

Yeah. James, you’d add to that?

Yeah, James, the only thing I’d add on is we expect that trend to continue. We’re seeing good coordination across the group with Sagard’s credit product and Wealthsimple. We’ve also seen access to the Empower shelf, or at least announcement that Sagard will ultimately be going on that. We do think retail funds will be a big component of growth moving forward.

Okay. Great. That’s it for me. Maybe I’ll re-queue. Thank you.

Okay. Thanks, Graham.

Operator: The next question is from James Gloyne with National Bank Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Thanks. First question, just a refresh on the dividend strategy. Obviously, a great year this year from an earnings growth perspective and cash flows. How should we be thinking about that dividend, I guess, maybe in the next quarter? Obviously, how does share repurchases factor into that capital allocation decision as well?

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: Thank you. Good question, James. What we do typically, the fall is where Great-West Lifeco and IGM would go through their 2026 budgeting process, get a good handle on where they think they are going. They will then come and come to the boards in early February or mid-February when we have the Q4 results and would recommend dividend levels for 2026. Power then takes that, looks at those two dividends as the two kind of steady sources of cash flow. We then look at our expenses, what our net cash flow will be from those dividends, and set our dividend as a consequence of having that information.

Other sources of cash that we might get from either disposing of an alt position or getting returns or cash flow from our alt positions or participating in buybacks that Great-West Lifeco may be having or other sources of cash. Occasionally, we do some fundraising. We recently did some preferred shares that market opened. Those, what I would call more episodic sources of cash, are what fund our buyback programs. We look at that cash in the context of investments we might have committed to or other opportunities, and we set our buybacks in the context of that cash position. I do not know if that explained it. We look to the dividends from IGM and Great-West Lifeco as lesser expenses as the main driver of our dividends and other cash flows go into a bucket, which we then use to source the buybacks.

Does that answer your question?

Yeah. Thank you. Maybe quite a different question just in terms of the capital allocation outlook for the business. Obviously, Empower and funding the organic and inorganic growth of the operating companies is something that’s top priority. Seeing some dislocations in other financial services, I’m just wondering if there’s any updated or refreshed view on, let’s say, the verticals that you have in place today versus maybe where you might want to take that in the future.

Let me go to what I think our capital allocation priorities are and then try and tease out what the last part of that question is because I’m not totally clear on what it was you were asking there, Graham. From Great-West Lifeco’s perspective, I think the U.S. continues to be at the top of the list of capital priorities. Empower continues to grow its franchise. It continues to grow its market share in the DC business. The rollover opportunity into the wealth management business is really an even stronger growth. I didn’t mention, but Great-West did point out that their wealth management, Empower, personal wealth crossed the $100 billion mark in the last quarter. If I bring you back to four and a half years ago, it was $20 billion.

It jumped to 40 when they bought Personal Capital, which was combined with Empower personal wealth. That has grown from that level up to 100 here. That is a tremendous, we are very pleased with the progress that that business is making. If there were further opportunities to make acquisitions, that would be capital priority number one. We would look to grow across the Great-West Lifeco portfolio if we had synergistic transactions in any of the markets. We like the balance currently, but if there were synergistic transactions, we would do so. There is some capital needed to grow the business, but most of their businesses are pretty capital-light. The position they find themselves in is those earnings are generating a lot of cash and a lot of capital, and that is growing at the top of the house, notwithstanding the desire for acquisitions.

They’re not going to sit on a big, big chunk of cash earning whatever it’s earning in current rates. That’s why the buybacks are there. That’s a little bit, I just tried to share with you how Great-West Lifeco thinks about capital allocation. IGM, from Mackenzie and IG Wealth, not necessarily acquisition opportunities there, but they do have their strategic portfolio, and they’ve got some high-growth businesses. One could see over time some of those businesses requiring more capital. That will be something that they would monitor in the strategic portfolio. They also are building up strong cash now and have stepped up their buyback activity. Those two companies, those are the capital priorities.

If you could give me a little more clarity on the last part of your question there when you talked about other verticals, I wasn’t sure what you meant.

Yeah. From an opco perspective with Great-West and IGM, life insurance, asset management, it’s a financial services business. Is that still the focus, or would you entertain other verticals perhaps outside of those two?

We’re in the financial services business here, and those I think I’ve explained what they would do. I think the priority would be in-market transactions. Occasionally, to get into new markets, we have made investments. Rockefeller was not a business that we were in. China Asset Management was not a business we were in. Those are brand new areas in financial services that in the past years we’ve made. We’ve done those on a, I would say, on a disciplined step-by-step basis as opposed to jumping in with a lot of capital. Would we ever entertain other areas? The answer would be sure we would, but our priority is building around the franchises that we have. That would be the priority. It would be financial services, just very, very clear.

Of course. Thank you.

Graham?

Yeah. Jake wants to add something here, Graham.

Sorry, James.

I’m sorry, James. My apologies. James, just even I do not know if the question’s triggered by where our cash balance sit at CAD 1.9 billion and available at CAD 1.5 billion. I’d say one of our unique characteristics or a competitive advantage at Power is just the willingness to take a long-term view and approach to building the company. I do not think Jeff or myself feel cash burning in our pocket that has to be deployed. It is not as obvious, but even during this year, we’ve had opportunities to deploy within the existing platform. As part of the Unigestion transaction to maintain our ownership position, we will be allocating some capital towards that. Jeff obviously mentioned earlier in his remarks, we are going to be participating in the Wealthsimple. We did participate in the Wealthsimple primary.

There are places where we can allocate our capital towards at the end of the day within the existing footprint and not needing to go into necessarily new operating companies.

Thanks, Jake. Appreciate that.

Last point, we are in the business of looking at opportunity. So we have what our priorities are, but we get shown a lot of opportunities. So we’ll continue to look at them, of course. Okay. Great. Thanks.

Operator: The next question is from Bart Sartsky with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Pardon me.

Just on the.

This is our PR line is open.

Can you hear me now?

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: Hello, Bart?

Yeah, we can hear you, Bart.

Okay. Great. Thanks. Sorry. Hey, Jeff. So wanted to follow up on the NCIB question in terms of how you guys are thinking about that from a pacing perspective going forward. So $2.1 billion year to date, that includes dividend, but very healthy capital return. And you obviously have some kind of intrinsic value model internally that you keep buying back stock because there’s value embedded there. Should we expect that pacing to continue? Do you think it’ll ramp up, or? Yeah. Just in terms of our buyback activity, we do look to the we are driving earnings and cash flow off the alternative asset management platforms over time. It’s not kind of steady on some of those distributions, but we create earnings there. We have some positive net cash flow from our dividends received less our expenses. So there’s different sources of cash.

We like to sit on some liquidity, but we also do not want all that cash just to build up on an indefinite basis. We jump into the market, and we have been for the last four years in effect turning what are non-earning assets from a steady earnings point of view into contributing to EPS growth and dividend growth by shrinking the capital base. If you think about that as a tool, it is a tool to take some of the earnings from the non—some of the distributions, I should say, from the non-earnings part of the portfolio, the NAV. By shrinking the capital base and buying it back, we are increasing our earnings per share and increasing our ability to pay dividends per share. I think I mentioned it might have been before you picked up coverage somewhere in the last year.

I think I mentioned that we had, because of the buybacks up until about a year ago—I cannot remember if it was three quarters or four quarters ago—we had calculated we had about $72 million-$73 million of extra cash flow available to pay in dividends that we would not have otherwise had had we not done the buybacks. That is one way of thinking about our buybacks. Now, the second part of your question, there is not a formula. Maybe, Jake, I will ask you to comment on your own thoughts. We do not have a formula. We like to be in the market on a steady basis. We might ramp it up sometimes, ramp it down. Our cash does not come in on a steady basis.

It might come in all of a sudden, we get a bunch of cash, and we’re not going to go out and kind of blow it all just because we just had a quarter where we had a bunch of cash come in. We like to be in the market on a steady basis.

Jake, anything you would add to my comments?

Yeah. Bart, tactically, one way to think about it, and we gave a bit of this guidance heading into 2025, there’s probably right now about three layers to the buyback program. The first layer is, as Jeff alluded to, we’ve been active for about four years now and roughly the same balance in the past few years of around CAD 400 million of buyback activity. We obviously want to offset option dilution as well. That would be the second layer. With Great-West announcing additional NCIB volumes, both with their Q2 and Q3 results, and our intention, their communication around Q2 of participating in that, that produces extra cash. That last piece is the one that we’ll want to be thoughtful about how much of the buying we are any given day in the market.

We obviously have that core $400 million plus offsetting dilution and then doing some additional activity on top of that with the proceeds from the NCIB for Great-West.

Okay. Great. Got it. Thanks for that. And then on Sagard, we saw the nice tick up in the Wealthsimple valuation, Q on Q, I think up 50% on your LP. Would that drive a fair value increase at Sagard? I think it was flat, if I’m not mistaken. And then Sagard also announced the Unigestion, so another positive transaction. Should the mark have increased, and if not, what would drive maybe factors going the other way?

Yeah. Take that, Jake. Yeah. As I know upfront, Wealthsimple, you may have missed it, Bart, we do not take it through the P&L. It has increased our NAV in the quarter, and that has been reflected. In terms of Unigestion, that is scheduled to close in the first half of 2026. Obviously, we announced it during the quarter and wanted to raise it on the call. We expect once it closes, we will obviously look at what that means for the valuation of Sagard in due course and where the business has traveled between now and closing and make an assessment of its value at that point.

Just to underline the Wealthsimple position, again, we consolidate it. We do own more than 50% across the group. We own more than 50% of the outstanding shares at Wealthsimple, principally at IGM and at Power Corporation. We consolidate it so we do not mark it up when there is an increase in the value. What we do get, though, as of present, is there is some carry that the Sagard team has on overseeing that position. We flow through the negative impact of the compensation carry in our P&L, but not the markup. The more Wealthsimple goes up in value, the more losses we report. I am not going to make a comment about the accounting industry at all because that would not be fair. It is a bit ironic here. The more the thing goes up, the more we report losses.

That is just the way it is. Economically, obviously, we are very, very pleased with the NAV growth.

Yep.

Okay. Because that’s what I was asking, because there’s an expense that goes through, and you would think the GP Sagard gets a benefit from the higher value, which ultimately drives higher future carry. Is it a wash on the valuation of the GP, or am I missing something?

We don’t value the GP every quarter, Bart, but you’re right. Their accrued carry interest has increased, but it’s not like Great-West or IGM where we’re marking it every quarter.

We don’t mark it up, but there is a liability that goes through the compensation because there’s a share of that carry that obviously goes to the Sagard management team. So that we show through a liability, but all the increase in the carry and the increase in the capital that we have in Wealthsimple does not get marked up. All that gets marked up is the employees’ share, the managers’ Sagard share of the carry. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because it is a positive for the GP.

I feel it. Yeah.

All righty. Then just on the GBL transaction, it looks like they did a secondary with Carlyle, and I think it was like a 9% discount to NAV. GBL earlier this year announced they took a stake in Sagard, plus they committed to future funds. Then I think as part of this transaction with Carlyle, they exited some of the Sagard positions. Is that a change in strategy by GBL with regards to its commitment to Sagard, or is something else driving that?

Two comments. They did not dispose of their position in Sagard, and nor have they—and they continue to be committed to the product. So that has not changed. I’m not sure. So just correct you on that one. And second, the transaction to dispose of the positions in the GBL Capital was through various transactions to different buyers. I’m not going to comment on who they are, but it was not—you may have become aware of one piece of it, but there were multiple transactions to multiple buyers that they announced.

Okay. Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Thanks, guys. Thanks for the enhanced disclosure this quarter with the subpac. Really appreciate it.

Perfect. Thanks. Thanks, Bart.

Operator: We have a follow-up from Graham Wrighting with TD Securities. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: Hi, Graham. Yeah. Sorry. I just was on mute there. Apologies. The follow-up question just on the buybacks at Great-West. Is it reasonable to assume that if there is no sort of obvious inorganic opportunity for Great-West, that they will continue to be active on buybacks? Should we also then assume that you are going to continue to look to participate in future NCIBs to sort of maintain your ownership position?

Now, that would be my expectation. With the current business mix that they have as they grow, they’re creating more cash than they’re putting capital back in, or put another way, the earnings are turning into a lot of cash generation. I think just building up that cash is not a very attractive alternative. If there were not inorganic opportunities, I think it’s reasonable to assume they’d continue to do buybacks. I mean, those are decisions we’ll make in the future, but that would be a reasonable assumption. The background on our participating, I’ll just restate it. You probably know it. Initially, we did not. We said, "We’re not interested in selling Great-West Lifeco shares." They came to us and said, "We would be great rather than us going out and trying to buy all of this from the market and also shrinking our outstanding.

We’d like to grow our float, not the market value of our float, not shrink it. Would you participate for a rata? When you think about it, you’re still basically getting cash back, and you’re still taking in 68% or roughly 68% of the earnings and the dividends. It doesn’t really change anything, and it’ll help grow our earnings per share. Given a constant payout ratio, that’ll translate into higher dividends, higher earnings. It would be great if you could support us in this with our objectives. We took that back, and after considering it, we decided, all right, that makes sense. We’ll participate for a rata. I don’t see that changing at this point, Graham. I think the answer to your question is yes, that’s a reasonable assumption both on continued buybacks and our participation.

Obviously, we’ll make those decisions through time.

Yeah. Okay. Makes sense. That’s it for me. Thanks.

Operator: The next question is from Doug Young with Desjardins Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: Good morning. Sorry, I got on the call late, so if these are repeated, I apologize. I want to kind of continue with the buyback question that Graham just asked, but a bit differently. What are the limits on the amount that Great-West can buy back and Power can buy back? What are the constraints given, I mean, you own 70% of Great-West. There is limited float, and that becomes a challenge for some people when they look at the structure. Just how do you think about that?

The last part of my question, if you picked it up, in terms of our participation, went to the issue of float. It is a trade-off because if you sit on, as Great-West Lifeco, if you sit on too much cash earning 2% or whatever you are earning, you are not going to have your earnings grow as quickly. You are not going to have your ROE go up as quickly. You have got too much lazy capital. All things being equal, your share price is going to drop or not grow as fast is a better way to put it. All things being equal, if you are growing the business. The number of shares is one part of the float, but times the share price is how you get to the size of the float.

As they’re shrinking their share base, they’re increasing their earnings per share, which, all things being equal, is increasing the share price. It might even get reflected in a higher multiple over time. When you do that math, I think you get to saying we keep doing buybacks. That’s the page you’re on. That’s the equation. It does not mean that you’re buying shares back, you’re going to have a lower value of your float. In fact, it probably is going to be the opposite.

Okay. So it doesn’t sound like you see any limitations on either the Power level because, I mean, Great-West is sitting on over $4 billion-$5 billion of excess cash that we can see, plus what’s in the U.S. and the debt capacity. So there’s a lot of capacity there left to continue.

That was their assessment and our assessment as well when they decided to jump into the buybacks. Obviously, we’d love to do, if we could get an opportunity to do an acquisition, we’d love to do that and slow the buybacks down. That would be a good thing to announce if we got that opportunity.

Okay. The second, just obviously an impressive list of value creation changes last six years. There is a lot to be listed. Some of it maybe was lower-hanging fruit. Some of it was tougher to get at. As you look out going forward, there is obviously Wealthsimple is creating value. Sagard is becoming more topical. What are you and the management team focused on? What does that next five years look like in terms of the buybacks are here, but what are some of the other items that you are kind of looking at?

I won’t get into specifics on what else we might look at. I would tell you, just restate how we think about it. We have the bulk of our assets are in businesses that are currently leading franchises that are at a more mature stage, but growing nicely and producing a lot of earnings and cash flow. That would be Great-West Lifeco, IG Wealth, Mackenzie. We also are very long-term focused.

We have, through our fintech strategy that we launched in 2015, that gave rise to the position in Wealthsimple through IGM, ultimately taking a position in Personal Capital, which ended up getting acquired by Great-West through acquisition of China AMC, the Wealthsimple piece itself, through the opportunity to buy in Rockefeller, and then turning and saying we want to be part of the alternative asset management space through Sagard, Power Sustainable, Northleaf came to IGM. There are seven or eight examples in the last 10 years of the group putting in a limited amount of capital, but meaningfully. It is still like 15%-20% of the portfolio into investments that are not going to create earnings in the short term, but looking 5, 7, 10 years out, could be really meaningful contributors to value creation and ultimately to earnings.

We try and do a balance between supporting and investing and growing our current leading franchises, but also seeding a portfolio of investments that, as you look 5, 10 years down the road, are going to be really meaningful contributors. They will not all turn out that way, and they will not all work, right? I mean, when you are doing it, you are buying into businesses at earlier stages. They are higher risk. There is higher potential. Some of them we will decide to take control positions in. Others, we may not. I am not going to get into what we are going to do. I could not do that even if I wanted to, Doug. I think that philosophy is important to understand.

What is great right now is that I think for a period of time, people were just kind of ignoring it and saying, "Well, come talk to me when you have got some evidence that that is working." As some of these things have been held for a number of years, they are coming to fruition, and I think it is creating evidence of how much value that they can create and will create. Ultimately, these businesses, every business goes through a phase where if it grows quickly, it is investing, investing, investing, and at some point, they turn into cash flow and earnings. I would expect that some of the assets that we have in these businesses right now turn into a reflection of what our earnings power will be five years down the road or seven years down the road as they get to more mature phases.

I don’t know if I answered your question. That’s basically told you what the approach to investment is, and that won’t change, I don’t think.

No, I figured you were not going to give me specifics, but at least it is interesting to hear you discuss and break it, how you think about it. I appreciate the time. Thank you.

Great. Thank you, Doug.

Operator: There are no further questions. I’d like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Steven Hung for any closing remarks.

Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO, Power Corporation: Thank you for joining us today. Following the call, a telephone replay will be available later this morning, and the webcast will be archived on our website for one year. We look forward to our next update on Q4 results. This concludes the call, and have a great day.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your line.

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