CPPIB using its shareholder votes to push for more women on corporate boards: CEO + MORE Nov 11th

MONTREAL _ Flight training and simulator provider CAE Inc. says its earnings soared 35 per cent in its latest quarter on proceeds from the sale of its stake in a Chinese training centre.
The Montreal-based company says its net income attributable to shareholders was $65.2 million or 24 cents per share in the three months ended Sept. 30. That compared with $48.3 million or 18 cents per share a year earlier.
Excluding a gain from the sale of a 49 per cent stake in the Zhuhai Flight Training Centre for US$96 million, CAE (TSX:CAE) earned $58.2 million or 22 cents per share, up from $55.5 million or 21 cents per share.
The adjusted profit was two cents per share below analyst forecasts, says RBC Capital Markets analyst Steve Arthur.
Revenue for its fiscal second quarter was $646 million, up from $635.5 million a year earlier.
CAE says it received $931 million in orders in the quarter, with more than half coming from defence customers.
The company says that former CGI chief executive Michael Roach is joining its board of directors…

TORONTO _ Hydro One Ltd. (TSX:H) says its third-quarter profit was down six per cent from last year as a result of costs associated with the proposed $6.7-billion acquisition of Avista Corp., a U.S. utility company based in Spokane, Wash.
Ontario’s largest electricity distributor says its profit attributable to common shareholders was $219 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, down from $233 million last year.
Excluding the costs associated with Avista, Hydro One’s adjusted profit was up two per cent at $237 million.
Hydro One’s earnings per share were down two cents at 37 cents, while adjusted earnings were up one cent at 40 cents per share.
Gross revenue was $1.52 billion, down 10.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2016. Excluding power purchases, net revenue was up 1.3 per cent at $847 million.
Hydro One says its revenue was positively affected by higher transmission rates but negatively affected by lower peak demand and lower energy consumption during mild weather during the summer…

TORONTO _ Canada’s largest retirement fund manager is pushing to have more women on corporate boards because diversity makes for better business decisions, CPPIB chief executive Mark Machin said Friday.
“This is a high priority for us,” Machin said in an interview after Canada Pension Plan Investment Board released its second-quarter financial report.
“We think that diversity leads to better decision-making and I think there’s a growing body of academic and practical evidence that leads to that (conclusion).”
As a result, CPPIB _ which manages more than $325 billion for the Canada Pension Plan _ voted 34 times this year against specific directors who chaired board’s nomination committees that failed to include women as candidates.
Although none of the 34 targeted directors were defeated, Machin said that CPPIB believes it has a responsibility to take a leadership role and “would encourage other people to do the same.”
The CPPIB, itself, has an equal number of male and female directors on its 12-member board, which is chaired by Heather Munroe-Blum, a former president of McGill University…

TORONTO _ Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (TSX:FFH) has paid nearly $11.8 million to increase its holding of Torstar Corp.’s non-voting shares to 40.6 per cent.
The Toronto-based financial company now owns about 28.9 million class B shares of Torstar (TSX:TS.B), owner of the Toronto Star, the Metroland group of newspapers and other digital and print media businesses.
Fairfax says it paid $1.25 each for the 9.4 million class B shares. The shares closed Thursday at $1.30 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but Fairfax didn’t say when its shares were acquired through a private agreement.
Fairfax says it acquired the class B shares for investment purposes but, in future, it may discuss transactions with management or the company’s board of directors.
The company has gradually increased its stake over the recent years. Prior to the most recent transaction, it owned 27.3 per cent of the media company’s non-voting shares.
Fairfax is a holding company that’s primarily invested in insurance businesses…

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