A roundup of some of the North American equities making moves in both directions today
On the rise
Maxar Technologies Inc. (MAXR-T) jumped 9.8 per cent after Reuters reported it is exploring a sale of its space robotics business, which could fetch more than U$1-billion and allow it to pay down some of its debt.
Shares of Norbord Inc. (OSB-T) were up 9.2 per cent after an equity analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns upgraded its stock.
The change came in response to a Monday announcement of its intention to “indefinitely curtail production” at its oriented strand board mill in 100 Mile House, B.C. in August.
The company said the Cariboo region “has been under mounting wood supply pressure for the past decade as a result of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. This challenge has been more recently exacerbated by the significant wildfires that the province of British Columbia experienced in the summers of both 2017 and 2018. The resulting wood supply shortage and high wood prices do not support the economic operation of the mill at this time.”
Theratechnologies Inc. (TH-T) jumped 7.5 per cent after announcing new data shows the positive impact of its Tesamorelin drug in patients with liver fibrosis.
The data comes from a recently completed study funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and the National Institutes of Health.
"The fact that we were able to show a statistically significant difference in the progression of fibrosis in a limited number of patients, along with the previously announced data on the effect of tesamorelin on liver fat in HIV patients is very encouraging”, said Dr. Christian Marsolais, Theratechnologies’ Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer.
Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc. (PL-T) sat 1.3 per cent higher after it announced that it has expanded its credit facility to $530-million, comprised of a $65-million revolving credit facility, a $280-million term facility, and a $185-million delay draw term facility. The credit facility expands the company’s existing $380-million credit facility, and extends the maturity date to June 13, 2024.
“The expanded and extended Credit Facility provides Pinnacle with the additional liquidity and financial flexibility needed to facilitate the continued growth of our business, including the development and construction of our North American production expansion over the next few years”, said Pinnacle chief executive officer Rob McCurdy. “With our continued focus on production growth in both Canada and the U.S. to support our strong contracted backlog, we are pleased to have the backing of a strong banking syndicate on both sides of the border. This support contributes to an optimized capital structure, allowing the Company to further drive our growth strategy without accessing the equity capital markets in the near-term.”
Taseko Mines Limited (TKO-T) was up 7.9 per cent on the heels of announcing that the Supreme Court of Canada has cleared the way for the company to undertake geotechnical work at its New Prosperity gold-copper project near Williams Lake, B.C.
The company said the Court "dismissed the Tsilhqot'in First Nation application to appeal an earlier judgment by the B.C. Supreme Court and by the British Columbia Court of Appeal and in doing so it has also confirmed the resilience of British Columbia's current mine permitting process."
CI Financial Corp. (CIX-T) rose 0.6 per cent after announcing before the bell its intention to intends to purchase up to 21,728,299 of its common shares, representing 10 per cent of the total public float, by way of a normal course issuer bid. All common shares purchased will be cancelled.
“CI believes that the market price of the common shares may, at certain times throughout the duration of the Normal Course Issuer Bid, be undervalued based on CI’s financial performance and prospects, and accordingly, the Board of Directors are of the opinion that the purchase of common shares is an appropriate use of funds in order to increase shareholder value,” the company said.
CGI Inc. (GIB.A-T) was up 0.6 per cent after making an all-cash offer of approximately £78.9 million to acquire Dublin-based SCISYS, a provider of IT services in the UK and Germany.
The offer is unanimously recommended by the SCISYS Board of Directors, and CGI has received irrevocable undertakings to vote in favour of the transaction from SCISYS directors representing approximately 25.0 per cent of the existing issued share capital of SCISYS.
The offer of 254.15 pence per share represents a premium of 43.7 per cent to SCISYS’ volume weighted average closing price over the last 6 months, 47.0 per cent to its volume weighted average closing price over the last 12 months and 24.6 per cent to its closing price on June 13.
On the decline
In the wake of an 11-per-cent jump in share price on Thursday following the release of stronger-than-projected quarterly results, shares of Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T) fell 0.5 per cent.
The large increase prompted an equity analyst at Desjardins Securities to downgrade his rating for the stock.
Agnico Eagles Mines Ltd. (AEM-T) dipped 0.4 per cent after delivering a $26-million offer to acquire Alexandria Minerals Corp. (AZX-X).
Under the deal, Agnico would acquire 100 per cent of the Toronto-based junior gold exploration and development company’s issued and outstanding common shares for 5 cents each. Alexandria announced receipt of the superior proposal from Agnico and the commencement of a matching period with Chantrell Ventures, which revealed its own bid on May 14.
“The acquisition of Alexandria will allow Agnico Eagle to consolidate an additional 14,819 hectares of mining claims that cover approximately 35 kilometres of strike length along the Cadillac-Larder Lakebreak in the prospective Val d’Or gold camp," the company said. “Three of Alexandria’s properties (Orenada, Akasaba and Sleepy) collectively contain historical inferred mineral resources of 526,702 ounces of gold (4.6 million tonnes at 3.53 grams per tonne gold) and indicated mineral resources of 448,654 ounces of gold (7.4 million tonnes at 1.88 grams per tonne gold), each as estimated by Alexandria.”
Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX-T) was down 0.1 per cent following an announcement late Thursday that it plans to temporarily curtail operations at its BCTMP mill in Taylor, B.C. from June 29 through Aug. 5.
The company said the decision stemmed from "a combination of weaker market conditions and short-term fibre constraints resulting from industry-wide sawmill curtailments in the B.C. Interior.”
With files from Brenda Bouw, staff and wires
David Leeder