A WestJet airplane comes in for a landing at Calgary International airport in this file photo.TODD KOROL/Reuters
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. (WJA-T) reported a record September load factor of 80.4 per cent, up 0.5 percentage points year over year.
Revenue passenger miles, or traffic, increased 5.9 per cent year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles, grew 5.3 per cent over the same period.
The company said it flew a record high of 6.5 million guests in the third quarter, a year-over-year increase of 10.7 per cent or approximately 630,000 additional guests.
"We are very pleased with our strong traffic growth, as we reported record load factors each month this quarter, which translated into achieving both our highest ever quarterly load factor of 85.7 per cent, and flying an all-time quarterly record number of guests in our 21-year history," said WestJet CEO Gregg Saretsky.
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Osisko Metals Inc. (OM-X) says Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd will acquire a one-per-cent net smelter return royalty on Osisko Metals' current portfolio of projects within both the Bathurst Mining Camp ("BMC") and Quebec for $5-million in cash.
"The acquired royalty will also apply to areas that Osisko Metals may acquire in the future that fall within a one-kilometer distance from their current property holdings," the company said.
"Osisko Gold will also acquire existing royalty buy-back agreements on current projects and will hold rights of first refusal on any future royalty or metal stream sale from existing or newly acquired properties by Osisko Metals."
Osisko Metals CEO Jeff Hussey said the royalty financing "represents the final stage of 2017 financings, all successfully completed since listing Osisko Metals last June."
He said the company has now raised a total of $41.5-million "to implement new acquisitions, exploration and drilling programs, mostly within the BMC."
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DHX Media Ltd. (DHX.B-T; DHXM-Q) announced a "large-volume content deal" for 13 DHX Media kids' shows with Amazon Prime Video for its global subscription-video-on-demand service.
"This agreement marks the largest between the two companies to date, covering more than 200 countries and territories and 15 languages," DHX said in a release.
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Cronos Group Inc. (MJN-X) says it has entered into a strategic distribution partnership with G. Pohl-Boskamp GmbH & Co. KG, an international pharmaceutical manufacturer and supplier.
Under the five-year exclusive distribution agreement, Cronos' global subsidiaries will supply Peace Naturals branded cannabis products to Pohl-Boskamp for distribution within Germany.
"This partnership allows us to leverage an existing industry-leading pharmaceutical distribution channel to immediately create the world's largest medical cannabis distribution platform," said Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Cronos
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Input Capital Corp. (INP-X) says its fourth-quarter revenue is the highest since the fall of 2015, due to "an early and generally smooth harvest."
It said it recorded $12-million of revenue on the sale of 25,333 metric tonnes (MT) of canola equivalent from streaming during the quarter ended Sept. 30, at an average price of $474 per MT. It also signed 11 streaming contracts for a total of $1.7-million in capital deployment during the quarter, adding four new producers and over 12,000 MT to canola reserves.
Input said the final accounting of quarterly and year-end results will be published and released "in due course."
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True North Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (TNT.UN-T) says it has acquired office properties in five cities across Canada for a total of $106.1-million.
The properties are in Victoria, B.C., the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and Cambridge, Ont. and Halifax.
The company said it will pay for the acquisitions using approximately $28.5-million from a bought deal offering completed in July, approximately $15-million from a new $25-million equity offering, first mortgage financing as well as $47.6-million from a bridge facility that will be made available by an affiliate of CIBC Capital Markets.
"Using capital efficiently, while remaining poised to act on opportunities, continues to be a priority," said CEO Daniel Drimmer.
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Parex Resources Inc. (PXT-T) is increasing its fourth-quarter production guidance to an average rate of 38,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). That's an increase of 23 per cent from the same quarter last year.
It also expects first quarter 2018 production to average above 40,000 boepd.
Third-quarter production was 36,150 boepd, up 5 per cent from the second quarter.
It estimates working capital as at Sept. 30, to be about $135-million, an increase of $42-million over Dec. 31.
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Spartan Energy Corp. (SPE-T) has increased its annual production guidance from 21,600 boepd to 22,000 boepd.
"This is the second increase to our production guidance in 2017, and we now anticipate delivering average annual production per share growth of 16 per cent over 2016 while spending approximately 76-to-78 per cent of forecasted 2017 cash flow," the company stated. It also reduced its drilling and maintenance capital from $145-million to $140-million.