Under the Bonus Plan, our compensation committee, in its sole discretion, determines the performance goals applicable to awards, which goals may
include, without limitation: attainment of research and development milestones, sales bookings, business divestitures and acquisitions, cash flow, cash position, earnings (which may
include any calculation of earnings,
including but not limited to earnings before
interest and taxes, earnings before taxes, earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and
net earnings), earnings per share,
net income,
net profit,
net sales, operating cash flow, operating expenses, operating income, operating
margin, overhead or other expense reduction, product defect measures, product release timelines, productivity, profit, return on assets, return on capital, return on equity, return on investment, return on sales, revenue, revenue growth, sales results, sales growth, stock price, time to market, total stockholder return, working capital, and individual objectives such as MBOs, peer reviews, or other subjective or objective criteria.
Examples of forward - looking statements
include, but are not limited to, statements we make regarding the Company's plans, assumptions, expectations, beliefs and objectives with respect to store openings and closings; product introductions; sales; sales growth; sales trends; store traffic; retail prices; gross
margin; operating
margin; expenses;
interest and other expenses,
net; effective income tax rate;
net earnings and
net earnings per share; share count; inventories; capital expenditures; cash flow; liquidity; currency translation; growth opportunities; litigation outcomes and recovery related thereto; the collectability of amounts due under financing arrangements with diamond mining and exploration companies; and certain ongoing or planned product, marketing, retail, manufacturing, information systems development, upgrades and replacement, and other operational and strategic initiatives.
These positive earnings drivers were more than offset by the combined impact of several factors,
including increased energy - related provisions for credit losses, a 17 basis point decline in
net interest margin, moderate growth of non-
interest expenses, the addition of acquisition - related contingent consideration fair value changes reflecting performance within CWB Maxium Financial (CWB Maxium), higher preferred share dividends, and the 20 % increase to CWB's income tax rate in Alberta.