Investment firm Canaccord Capital Inc. reported a 37 per cent drop in third-quarter profit Thursday, as asset-backed commercial paper woes continued to bruise its bottom line.

Canaccord chief executive officer Paul Reynolds said the company was pleased to have emerged from a “challenging quarter marked by volatile global markets” with profitable results. “That said, we're definitely cautious in our current outlook for the near term.”

Profit in the three months ended Dec. 31 fell to $15-million or 31 cents a diluted share from $23.7-million or 49 cents a year ago, Vancouver-based Canaccord said.

The quarterly results include a $4.2-million writedown linked to the company's ABCP exposure, bringing the second- and third-quarter combined ABCP “fair value adjustments” to $8.6-million or 11 cents a share.