An exterior view of a Rona store in Brossard, Que., on Jan. 30, 2013.The Globe and Mail
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps making news and on the move today.
Rona Inc. (RON-T) announced it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the 20 franchise stores in its network, 17 big-box stores and three proximity stores, operating under the banners Rona, Rona L'entrepot and Rona Home & Garden. The stores, 18 in Quebec and two in Ontario, have a combined workforce of 2,600 employees and generate over $500-million in retail sales.
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Colabor Group Inc. (GCL-T) said its consolidated sales for the 84-day period ended June 13, 2015 reached $366.6-million, up 5.6 per cent from $347.2-million for the 84-day period ended June 14, 2014. That was slightly above Street estimate of $358.3-million. Its net earnings worked out to 4 cents per share - matching the estimate of one analyst who follows the stock - down from 6 cents a year earlier.
"Colabor is very proud of its solid progress in comparable sales in the second quarter achieved on the strength of new contracts and organic growth. Profitability, though in line with our expectations, remains below potential and we continue to put forward initiatives aimed at reducing costs and increasing operating efficiency in order to reach our annual objective," said Claude Gariepy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Colabor.
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Enercare Inc. (ECI-T) announced that it has filed with the Toronto Stock Exchange a notice to make a Normal Course Issuer Bid in which it will purchase up to 9,161,779 of its common shares, representing approximately 10 per cent of its public float.
The purchases may commence on July 20, 2015.
"Enercare believes that, from time to time, the market price of its common shares does not fully reflect the value of its business and its future business prospects. As a result, Enercare believes that the purchase of its outstanding common shares represents an appropriate and desirable use of its available funds. In addition, purchases, including purchases under the NCIB, may increase the liquidity of the common shares," the company said in a statement.
The company also announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Enercare Connections Inc., has completed its acquisition of Triacta Power Technologies Inc. for $7.5-million in cash.
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Energy Fuels Inc. (EFR-T) announced that the State of Wyoming has granted the company approval for a major revision to the existing mining permit for its 100 per cent-owned Sheep Mountain Project, including expansion of surface and underground mining. This is considered a major milestone in the permitting process for this facility.
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New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI-T) , a manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in Canada and the United States, announced its order activity and backlog update for the second fiscal quarter ended June 28, 2015. The company delivered 594 equivalent units, an increase of 12 compared to 582 units in the second quarter of last year. New bus orders (firm and options) totaled 531 units, with 1,238 units of new firm and option orders pending from customers at the end of the period. The current total backlog is 7,011 units (valued at $3.49-billion) compared to 7,193 (valued at $3.57-billion) at the end of the first quarter and 7,372 (valued at $3.54-billion) at the end the same period last year.
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Northland Power Inc. (NPI-T) announced that on July 13, 60 days after its Cochrane Power's contract expired, it began the process of issuing termination notices to employees. As previously announced, Cochrane Power's contract to generate electricity for Ontario's power grid expired on May 11. Northland had kept the facility's workers employed in the hope that a new or temporary agreement for the plant could be established. The company has been able to transfer some of its employees at Cochrane Power to its other plants. It is also maintaining a skeleton staff for security purposes.
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Darcy Keith