Comstock
Canadian patent company Wi-Lan Inc. on Wednesday extended the deadline for its $38 a share, or $480-million, hostile bid to acquire rival Mosaid Technologies Inc. by two weeks to Oct. 14. Mosaid has said the offer, 20 per cent more than its trading price the day before Wi-Lan made its offer, undervalues the company. It has also said it was in talks with other potential suitors, but nothing concrete has come of that yet. Mosaid was up close to 1 per cent early Thursday while Wi-Lan was nearly 2 per cent higher.
OceanaGold Corp. said a contract employee working at its Didipio copper-gold project in the Philippines was killed as a result of Typhoon Pedring striking central and northern Luzon on Tuesday. The company said the dead worker was a Filipino national working as a contractor at Didipio. OceanaGold earlier this month said it continues to make good progress on construction at Didipio and is expecting to begin pouring concrete at the facility in November. Mining activity is set to begin in January with the processing plant slated for commissioning during the fourth quarter of 2012.
NEMI Northern Energy and Mining Inc. Wednesday night said it expects to soon schedule a "liquidity event" for shareholders following the company's now-completed $73-million sale of its stake in Peace River Coal L.P. The event likely would be organized as a cash distribution or a stock buyback, NEMI said, adding that any course of action will first require regulatory and board approvals as well as the recommedations of financial advisers as to the tax consequences of the various distribution scenarios. NEMI, along with partners Anglo America plc, Hillsborough Resources and Vitol Anker International, in April decided to sell the Peace River metalurgical coal mine, with the minority partners selling their stakes to a Canada-based subsidiary of Anglo America, which is now marketing the mine to potential buyers through CIBC World Markets. NEMI said a decision on the liquidity event should come within two weeks.
Automotive electronics manufacturer Pacific Insight Electronics Corp. said it generated a $163,000 net profit during its fiscal year ended June 30, down from $531,000 in net income in the year-ago period. Fourth-quarter profits also lagged, with the company reporting a $19,000 net loss, reversing a $316,000 gain during the June 2010 quarter. Revenues made for a brighter story, with Pacific Insight posting a 4 per cent increase in Q4 sales to $8.465-million and recording $32.7-million in yearly sales, up 12 per cent from the $29.2 million reported during fiscal 2010.
IBI Group Inc. has closed on its acquisition of Dull Olson Weekes Architects, Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based professional design practice specializing in schools and other educational facilities as well as social infrastructure and community buildings. All three founding partners along with five associate principals are continuing with the firm, which is being merged with the IBI Group Architects and will operate as DOWA-IBI Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Prestige Telecom Inc. , which had been trading near a year low of 2 cents, said its net loss expanded to $700,000 or 0.6 cents per share during its fiscal first quarter ended June 30. That compares to a $400,000 net loss last year. Sales for the engineering, furnishing and installation company were mostly flat, declining $100,000 from year-ago levels to $33.4 million. Revenues for the construction segment were down 36 per cent to $11.9-million, and engineering segment revenues were up 58 per cent to $16.5-million. Installation segment revenues were up 10 per cent to $5-million due to an increase in wireline business activity.
Exco Technologies Ltd. plans to soon start buying back up to 1.5 million shares for cancellation, or about 3.7 per cent of its outstanding stock. The maximum number of shares to be bought through the issuer bid on any given day will be 6,436 shares. The average daily trading volume for the automotive parts supplier during the six months ended Aug. 31 was 25,745 shares.
Boyuan Construction Group Inc. enjoyed a 26.3 per cent pop in fiscal year 2011 revenues enroute to a $13.2-million profit, up 35 per cent from the $10.1-million in net income during the prior 12-month period. Project backlog for the Chinese builder now totals over $270-million, with 14 material construction projects currently in progress. During the now-concluded fiscal year, the company initiated its two largest projects ever, begining work on residential construction developments in Hainan province valued at $44.3-million and $43.1-million, respectively. Total new project value started during the past 12 months was $200.7-million.
Phoenix Oilfield Hauling Inc. has a new president, hiring Richard Gelder, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. According to the company, Gelder has over 30 years experience in the transportation industry - including 11 years in senior management positions - and has spent the last six years overseeing national and international air and ground projects in North America, the Middle East and Africa. Phoenix said Gelder's experience will lead the company's expansion into the United States and other new markets. David Werklund will remain as interim CEO at Phoenix.
Canada's La Mancha Resources Inc. was getting a small lift from reports that Sudan plans to double gold production at its jointly run main mine within two to three years, and launch a copper production by 2015 or later.
Canadian fleet management service provider Wireless Matrix posted a wider quarterly net loss of $674,000 or 1 cent per share, which included the impact of $508,000 of litigation-related expenses. This compared to a net loss of $416,000 or 1 cent a share a year ago. Total revenue fell to $8.2-million from $9.5-million.
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