Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. , which rose $1.01 or 6 per cent yesterday, is down slightly in late morning trading after announcing fiscal first-quarter 2012 results. Net Income was $5.5-million or $0.19 per common share, basic and diluted, for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2011, down from $6.4-million or $0.22 per common share, a year earlier. It also declared its regular quarterly dividend of $0.1625 per common share. "Uncertainty was the defining characteristic of global equity markets in the first three months of our fiscal year, and will likely continue to be the defining characteristic for the foreseeable future," said Jeremy Freedman, president and CEO. "Ongoing debt issues in Europe, mounting evidence of a protracted global economic slowdown, potential gridlock in Washington pending the 2012 elections and uncertainty over China's ability to continue to grow at a prudent pace are all contributing to the present uncertainty, and a broader-than-usual array of potential outcomes."
Endeavour Silver Corp. turned negative after touching a day high $11.67 earlier as it announced its financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2011. Endeavour owns and operates two high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico, the Guanacevi Mines in Durango State and the Guanajuato Mines in Guanajuato State. The company reported record adjusted earnings (a non-IFRS measure) of $8.9-million ($0.10 per share) in the third quarter, 2011. Net earnings (an IFRS measure) were $3.1-million and operating cash flow was $14.3-million from revenues totaling $38.8-million. Silver sales averaged $40.72 per ounce and the company's cash cost of production was $5.03 per ounce of silver net of gold credits.
Ballard Power Systems touched a day low $1.43 before recovering a little as it reported a net loss of $7.8-million in the third quarter and $26.7-million year-to-date, increases of 38 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, due to one-time gains recorded in 2010. Adjusting for these one-time transactional gains, normalized net income (loss) improved by 25 per cent in Q3 and 14 per cent year-to-date. In its its 2011 business outlook, it said: "While the company has not updated original guidance for revenue growth in excess of 30 per cent, and while it continues to expect significant revenue growth in 2011, it should be noted that risk factors have heightened, primarily in relation to the uncertainty of timing of Brazil bus orders and shipments." It added: "While the company has not updated original guidance for Adjusted EBITDA improvement in excess of 40 per cent, and while it continues to expect significant Adjusted EBITDA improvement in 2011, it should be noted that risk factors have heightened, primarily in relation to the revenue uncertainty identified above and the ongoing foreign exchange uncertainty, along with the impact of the restructuring charges incurred." Ballard provides clean energy fuel cell products enabling optimized power systems for a range of applications.
Medical imaging software solutions company The Medipattern announced today that it received United States Patent number 8,014,576 for a "method and system of computer-aided quantitative and qualitative analysis of medical images." The company said the patent relates to the field of computer-aided analysis of medical images and detection of suspicious abnormalities. The patent also covers the combined use of morphological and kinetic features to compute a consolidated assessment of a possible lesion detected in medical imaging.
Premium Brands Holdings Corp. producer, marketer and distributor of branded specialty food products, announced its results for the third quarter of 2011. The company said it has achieved record retail segment sales for the quarter of $113.4-million while food service segment sales was also a record-breaking $92.4-million. EBITDA was $17.6-million representing a 34.1 per cent increase as compared to $13.2-million in the third quarter of 2010.
Extorre Gold rose 4 per cent after reporting an updated National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for its Cerro Moro project in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The company said the new indicated resource is at a gold equivalent grade above 30 g/t, a grade considered to be exceptional by industry standards. The silver content of the deposit remains high and accounts for approximately 55 per cent by value of the indicated resource, based on a silver to gold ratio of 50:1.
Aecon Group Inc. lost early gains that saw it touch $9.10 after reporting earlier today that it has been awarded four new contracts totaling $75-million for work with three different clients: Suncor Energy, the Calgary International Airport, and the Federal Bridge Corp. The company said these awards bring the total value of new projects announced since September to over $600-million.
Sandvine Corp. , a provider of intelligent broadband network solutions, was down by about 3 per cent after announcing that Vox Telecom Ltd., a leading telecoms operator providing fixed and mobile services to the southern African marketplace, has selected Sandvine for its access-agnostic Usage Management solution. Vox Telecom, named one of South Africa's fastest growing companies in late 2010, became a Sandvine customer during the company's third quarter.