POW Power Corp of Canada

Readers are referred to the sections entitled "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Non-IFRS Financial Measures" at the end of this release. The Corporation's financial results are reported under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

WINNIPEG, Aug. 3, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Power Corporation of Canada (TSX: POW) today reported operating earnings attributable to participating shareholders for the six-month period ended June 30, 2012 of $501 million or $1.09 per share, compared with $574 million or $1.24 per share in the corresponding period in 2011. This represents a 12.6% decrease on a per share basis.

Subsidiaries contributed $540 million to Power Corporation's operating earnings, compared with $587 million for the six-month period ended June 30, 2011, a decrease of 8.0%. Results from corporate activities were a charge of $14 million in the six-month period ended June 30, 2012, compared with a contribution of $7 million in the corresponding period in 2011.

For the six-month period ended June 30, 2012, other items represented a contribution of $45 million mainly composed of the Corporation's share of the gains realized by Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) in the first quarter on the partial disposal of its interest in Pernod Ricard ($30 million) and the disposal of its interest in Arkema ($28 million), as previously disclosed. These gains were partially offset in the second quarter by the Corporation's share ($3 million) of a non-cash income tax charge recorded by IGM Financial Inc. (IGM) resulting from increases in Ontario corporate income tax rates and the Corporation's share of non-operating earnings of Pargesa SA (Pargesa) ($7 million), mainly composed of a charge for goodwill impairment and restructuring charges recorded by Lafarge SA (Lafarge). Other items in the corresponding period in 2011 were a charge of $2 million.

As a result, net earnings attributable to participating shareholders for the six-month period ended June 30, 2012 were $546 million or $1.19 per share, compared with $572 million or $1.24 per share in the corresponding period in 2011.

SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

Operating earnings attributable to participating shareholders for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 were $292 million or $0.64 per share, compared with $356 million or $0.77 per share in the corresponding period in 2011. This represents a decrease of 17.8% on a per share basis.

Power Corporation's share of operating earnings from its subsidiaries was $296 million for the three-month period ended June 30, 2012, compared with $339 million for the same period in 2011, a decrease of 12.7%. Corporate activities represented a contribution of $9 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2012, compared with a contribution of $27 million in the corresponding period in 2011.

Other items represented a charge of $10 million in the three-month period ended June 30, 2012, as described above, compared with nil in the corresponding period of 2011.

As a result, net earnings attributable to participating shareholders for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 were $282 million or $0.62 per share, compared with $356 million or $0.77 per share in the corresponding period in 2011.

RESULTS OF POWER FINANCIAL CORPORATION

Power Financial Corporation reported operating earnings attributable to common shareholders for the six-month period ended June 30, 2012 of $820 million or $1.15 per share, compared with $879 million or $1.24 per share in the corresponding period in 2011, a decrease of 6.7% on a per share basis.

For the six-month period ended June 30, 2012, other items represented a contribution of $68 million mainly composed of Power Financial's share of the gains realized by GBL in the first quarter on the partial disposal of its interest in Pernod Ricard ($46 million) and the disposal of its interest in Arkema ($43 million). These gains were partially offset in the second quarter by Power Financial's share ($4 million) of a non-cash income tax charge recorded by IGM resulting from increases in Ontario corporate income tax rates and Power Financial's share of non-operating earnings of Pargesa ($11 million), mainly composed of a charge for goodwill impairment and restructuring charges recorded by Lafarge. Other items in the corresponding period in 2011 were a charge of $2 million.

As a result, net earnings attributable to common shareholders for the six-month period ended June 30, 2012 were $888 million or $1.25 per share, compared with $877 million or $1.24 per share in the corresponding period in 2011.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2012, Power Financial reported operating earnings of $448 million or $0.63 per share, compared with $507 million or $0.72 per share in the second quarter of 2011. This represents a decrease of 11.6% on a per share basis.

For the three-month period ended June 30, 2012, other items represented a charge of $15 million, compared to nil in the corresponding period in 2011.

As a result, net earnings attributable to common shareholders of Power Financial for the quarter ended June 30, 2012 were $433 million or $0.61 per share, compared with $507 million or $0.72 per share in the corresponding period in 2011.

DIVIDENDS ON NON-PARTICIPATING PREFERRED SHARES

The Board of Directors today declared quarterly dividends on the Corporation's preferred shares, as follows:

DIVIDENDS ON PARTICIPATING SHARES

The Board of Directors also declared a dividend of 29 cents per share on the Participating Preferred and Subordinate Voting Shares of the Corporation, payable September 28, 2012 to shareholders of record September 7, 2012.

For purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and any similar provincial legislation, all of the above dividends on the Corporation's preferred shares (including the Participating Preferred Shares) and Subordinate Voting Shares are eligible dividends.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this News Release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements based on certain assumptions and reflect the Corporation's current expectations, or with respect to disclosure regarding the Corporation's public subsidiaries, reflect such subsidiaries' disclosed current expectations. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purposes of assisting the reader in understanding the Corporation's financial performance, financial position and cash flows as at and for the periods ended on certain dates and to present information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and the reader is cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. These statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the operations, business, financial condition, expected financial results, performance, prospects, opportunities, priorities, targets, goals, ongoing objectives, strategies and outlook of the Corporation and its subsidiaries, as well as the outlook for North American and international economies for the current fiscal year and subsequent periods. Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or include words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "estimates", "seeks", "intends", "targets", "projects", "forecasts" or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "may", "will", "should", "would" and "could".

By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, many of which are beyond the Corporation's and its subsidiaries' control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Corporation and its subsidiaries and their businesses, and could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations of estimated or anticipated events or results. These factors include, but are not limited to: the impact or unanticipated impact of general economic, political and market factors in North America and internationally, interest and foreign exchange rates, global equity and capital markets, management of market liquidity and funding risks, changes in accounting policies and methods used to report financial condition (including uncertainties associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates), the effect of applying future accounting changes, business competition, operational and reputational risks, technological change, changes in government regulation and legislation, changes in tax laws, unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings, catastrophic events, the Corporation's and its subsidiaries' ability to complete strategic transactions, integrate acquisitions and implement other growth strategies, and the Corporation's and its subsidiaries' success in anticipating and managing the foregoing factors.

The reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Information contained in forward-looking statements is based upon certain material assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including management's perceptions of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other considerations that are believed to be appropriate in the circumstances, including that the list of factors in the prior paragraph, collectively, are not expected to have a material impact on the Corporation and its subsidiaries. While the Corporation considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to management, they may prove to be incorrect.

Other than as specifically required by applicable Canadian law, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise.

Additional information about the risks and uncertainties of the Corporation's business and material factors or assumptions on which information contained in forward-looking statements is based is provided in its disclosure materials, including its most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis and Annual Information Form, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available at www.sedar.com.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

In analyzing the financial results of the Corporation and consistent with the presentation in previous years, net earnings attributable to participating shareholders are subdivided into the following components:

• operating earnings attributable to participating shareholders; and
• other items or non-operating earnings, which include the after-tax impact of any item that management considers to be of a non-recurring nature or that could make the period-over-period comparison of results from operations less meaningful, and also include the Corporation's share of any such item presented in a comparable manner by its subsidiaries.

Management has used these financial measures for many years in its presentation and analysis of the financial performance of Power Corporation, and believes that they provide additional meaningful information to readers in their analysis of the results of the Corporation.

Operating earnings attributable to participating shareholders and operating earnings per share are non-IFRS financial measures that do not have a standard meaning and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other entities.

SOURCE POWER CORPORATION OF CANADA