Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Precision Drilling Corp. (PD-T; PDS-N) said it expects to take a goodwill impairment at year-end 2018 of $206-million. The company said the charge ion its balance sheet at Sept. 30, 2018, is related to its Canadian Drilling “cash-generating unit.”
"In accordance with our accounting policies, Precision must perform its annual assessment of the carrying value of cash generating units containing goodwill. Precision’s preliminary analysis indicates the goodwill carrying value is not recoverable and an impairment charge is expected at year-end 2018," it stated.
The company also announced its 2019 capital expenditure plan and its 2018 capital expenditures and new debt repayment targets.
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Sprott Inc. (SII-T) announced that Whitney George has been named the president of the company, effective immediately. The company also said Mr. George will continue to serve as chairman of Sprott USA and chief investment officer of Sprott Asset Management.
“Whitney has a successful track record in the asset management industry as a portfolio manager, mentor and business builder,” said Peter Grosskopf, CEO of Sprott. “We are pleased he will be playing a more fulsome role in building out the Sprott brand and platform.”
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Pomerantz LLP announced late Tuesday a class action lawsuit has been filed against Maxar Technologies Inc. (MAXR-N, MAXR-T) “and certain of its officers” in the United States District Court, District of Colorado.
The release states the lawsuit is "on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Maxar securities between March 29, 2018 through January 7, 2019" and "seeking to recover damages caused by defendants' violations of the federal securities laws."
The complaint alleges the defendants "made materially false and misleading statements regarding the company's business, operational and compliance policies."
Separately, Maxar said its SSL division has exercised its right to terminate participation in the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program, a public-private partnership with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The company cited “a need to focus its resources on ensuring optimal returns when weighed against other capital priorities, such as WorldView Legion,” and added that “SSL remains unwavering in its commitment to its customers on all existing contracts.”
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Canfor Corp. (CFP-T) announced it will be temporarily curtailing operations at three British Columbia mills “due to log supply constraints, log costs and current market conditions.”
Canfor's said its sawmill in Vavenby will be curtailed for six weeks from February 11 to March 22, 2019. Canfor's sawmills in Houston and Mackenzie will be curtailed for one week each in the first quarter. In combination, these curtailments will reduce Canfor's production output by approximately 40 million board feet. This is in addition to the approximately 150 million board feet of production capacity that was curtailed by Canfor in the fourth quarter and early 2019.
Canfor has 13 sawmills in Canada, with a total annual capacity of approximately 3.8 billion board feet.
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Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (EMH-X) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Verdélite Sciences Inc. has entered into a “release, discharge and transaction agreement” settling all claims made by against it by Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its former shareholders.
"The claims relate to a non-binding letter of intent which Verdélite and its former shareholders had previously entered into with Pivot with respect to a potential sale of Verdélite," the company stated. It said all claims have been discharged without Verdélite making any payment or providing any compensation to Pivot.
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Pomerantz LLP also announced a class action lawsuit has been filed against Liberty Health Science Inc. (LHS-C) “and certain of its officers” in United States District Court, Southern District of New York. According to a release, the lawsuit is "on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than defendants and their affiliates, who purchased or otherwise acquired Liberty common stock between June 28, 2018, and December 3, 2018. The firm says the lawsuit is “seeking to recover damages caused by defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies.”
The complaint alleges "defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Liberty, in conjunction with Aphria, was involved in a scheme whereby numerous fraudulent acquisitions and transactions were made to provide undue benefits to both companies' insiders; and (ii) as a result, Liberty's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times."
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CannaRoyalty Corp. d/b/a Origin House (OH-T) announced it has agreed to provide additional financing of US$750,000 to Utopia Cannabis, a California-based cannabis brand. “As we continue to execute on our corporate strategy, we look forward to strengthening our exclusive relationship with Utopia and onboard new partners to our proven platform to accelerate growth for promising cannabis brands,” said Afzal Hasan, president at Origin House.
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Dixie Brands Inc. (DIXI.U-C) and Khiron Life Sciences Corp. (KHRN-X) announced they signed a binding letter of intent to establish a 50-50 joint venture to introduce a full line of cannabis-infused products to the Latin American market. Dixie will also manufacture and distribute Khiron’s Kuida brand of cannabidiol-based cosmeceuticals in the U.S., targeting the growing Hispanic population.