Clearwater Seafoods Income Fund jumped around 100 per cent to its highest levels in about three years early Friday after confirming that its board of trustees received a non-binding proposal from Cooke Aquaculture Inc. to acquire all of the issued and outstanding units of the fund not already owned by Cooke and all of the Clearwater Fine Foods Inc-owned Class B exchangeable units of Clearwater Seafoods Limited Partnership, together with the special voting units of the fund that attach to those Class B Units, and the 51 outstanding common shares of CS ManPar Inc. The proposal contemplates the payment of cash consideration in the amount of $3.50 for each fund nit, class B unit and common share of CS ManPar that would be acquired. The proposal also suggests that Cooke would intend to acquire and, at its option convert, all of the fund's outstanding convertible debentures, although no terms have been specified for the acquisition of the convertible debentures.
Canadian oil sands developer Connacher Oil & Gas Ltd has hit a new year low of 71 cents after posting a wider quarterly loss with a drop in crude oil production more than cancelling out a rise in bitumen production. Second-quarter net loss widened to $44.2-million or 10 cents per share from $31.7-million or 7 cents per share in the previous corresponding period. Crude oil production fell to 398 barrels per day from 540 barrels per day in the first quarter and 906 in the year earlier period. But bitumen production more than doubled to 13,720 barrels per day.
InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust announced financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2011. Second-quarter highlights included: revenue per available room on a same hotel basis declined 1.2 per cent with a 2.1 per cent drop in average daily rate offsetting gains in occupancy; overall, hotel revenue declined 0.4 per cent to $162.6-million; hotel operating income was down 1.6 per cent to $42.9-million; InnVest realized profit of $2.0-million compared to a net loss of $41.3-million in 2010. Excluding non-cash items relating to IFRS and deferred income taxes, InnVest realized a net loss of $438,000 compared to profit of $916,000 in the prior period. Funds from operations and distributable income each improved modestly reflecting lower interest charges and during the second quarter, $8.5-million was invested in the portfolio including the completion of room renovations in two key assets and markets. These investments are expected to contribute to improved hotel performance in future periods. "Second-quarter results highlight continued improvement in demand to our portfolio. This was particularly encouraging given challenging circumstances during the quarter which included the federal election and its impact on government-related travel in April, weak leisure demand due to poor weather and high gasoline prices, and revenue displacement caused by renovations. These factors, in addition to the prior period benefit from the G8 and G20 meetings held in the Toronto area, limited year-over-year growth in funds from operations and distributable income," Kenneth Gibson, InnVest's president and chief executive officer said in a statement. "Our strategy through the first half of the year was focused on driving occupancy to the portfolio. We expect rate growth to follow during the busier summer season, aided by recent renovations at two of our largest hotels."
Wescast Industries Inc. , a global automotive parts supplier, reported 2011 second-quarter sales of $71.4-million and a net loss of $1.1-million. The company said it had booked $61.5-million of average annualized new and replacement business globally in the first six months of 2011 which it expects will "positively impact our results in the future". It reported consolidated sales of $71.4-million, consistent with the $71.1-million reported in the second-quarter of 2010, reflecting higher sales generated by the company's European and Asian business units and lower sales in North America. The company reported a second-quarter net loss of $1.1-million compared with a net loss of $1.4-million reported in 2010. The net loss per share on a diluted basis was $0.09, compared with a net loss of $0.10 last year. Included in the net loss for the quarter was share-based payments expense of $1.2-million and expenses of $0.6-million related to a review of strategic alternatives with the objective of enhancing shareholder value. It said the share-based payments expense for the quarter was due mainly to the significant increase in the company's share price during the quarter. The combined negative impact on the diluted net loss per share for the quarter was $0.14.
Boyd Group Income Fund reported its financial results on Friday for the three-month period ended June 30, 2011. Highlights included record sales and adjusted EBITDA when compared with previous second-quarter results; same-store sales increased by 8.8 per cent, excluding the impact of foreign exchange translation; gross margin increased to $34.7-million or 44.7 per cent compared with $23.9-million or 45.7 per cent in 2010; adjusted EBITDA totalled $4.9-million compared with $3.5-million last year; the payout ratio was 42.5 per cent compared with 35.1 per cent in the second-quarter of 2010, due to a higher level of distributions. "The second-quarter of 2011 has proven to be reasonably strong, despite challenging market conditions, including high gas prices, year over year reductions in miles driven and persistent high unemployment rates," Brock Bulbuck, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Specifically, the continued improvement in same-store sales is indicative of continuing market share gains and is therefore encouraging, as we expand our U.S. presence with the completed acquisition of Cars at the end of the second-quarter... Additionally, the acquisition of Cars Collision on June 30 has firmly positioned Boyd as the largest multi-location collision operator in North America in both annual sales and number of locations, at 164."
Canadian Helicopters Group Inc. , an international provider of helicopter transportation and related support services, announced its financial and operating results for the second-quarter ended June 30, 2011. Highlights included: revenue growth of 42.6 per cent to $63.3-million; EBITDA of $23.4-million, up from $12.3-million a year earlier; adjusted net income more than doubled to $15.1-million, or $1.15 per share. It closed the HNZ transaction subsequent to the end of Q2.
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. announced financial results for the second-quarter ended June 30, 2011, with results showing increased revenue, EBITDA and earnings compared to the previous year. In addition, its board of directors approved an annual dividend increase of $0.02 per common share for a total annual dividend of $0.28, paid quarterly at a rate of $0.07 per common share. APUC also declared a dividend on its shares. The dividend is $0.07 per share payable on October 17, 2011 to the shareholders of record on September 30, 2011 for the period from July 1, 2011 to September 30, 2011. Financial highlights included a revenue of $66.8-million as compared with $42.0-million in the second-quarter of 2010. Adjusted EBITDA was $28.2-million as compared with $18.7-million in the second quarter of 2010. APUC reported profit in the second-quarter of 2011 of $7.3-million or $0.07 per share, compared with a net loss of $2.5-million or net loss of $0.03 per share in the same period last year. APUC reported adjusted net earnings of $8.3-million or $0.07 per share, compared with adjusted net earnings of $0.2-million or $0.00 per share in the second-quarter of 2010.
Jovian Capital Corporation and Desjardins Financial Security, a subsidiary of Desjardins Group, announced that they have signed a definitive share purchase agreement for the purchase by DFS of Jovian's mutual fund dealer subsidiary MGI Financial Inc. for a purchase price of approximately $27-million. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place on or about September 30, 2011, and is subject to customary conditions including, but not limited to, regulatory and contractual consents and approvals. The transaction includes MGIF's various subsidiaries.
St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited announced the intersection of highly mineralized sample intervals in two recently completed drill holes with resulting assays that compare favorably with the gold and copper grades predicted by the block model from the mineral resource estimate disclosed in the NI 43-101 October 2010 Technical Report. It said these results are supported by a positive third party site visit audit report on the overall King-king Project drilling and geology programs. Andy Russell, president and chief executive officer, said: "These intercepts confirm the high quality and integrity of the existing King-king data. The grades in SAG01 are extremely compelling with 99 meters of greater than 1 g/t gold and 1.1 per cent copper."
Taseko Mines Limited has fallen toward an existing year low of $3.30 after announcing second-quarter 2011 results. Highlights included an operating profit of $11.8-million compared to $12.8-million in the second-quarter of 2010; the company's share of Gibraltar's copper production and sales volumes for the second-quarter 2011 was 15.0 million pounds and 10.7 million pounds, respectively; Taseko's 75 per cent share of inventory at quarter end was 9.0 million pounds of copper metal; adjusted net earnings for the second-quarter were $7.3-million, an increase over adjusted net earnings of $0.8-million for the prior-year period; total cash costs of production were $2.32/lb (U.S.). Higher costs resulted from maintenance and consumable costs, a strengthened Canadian dollar, combined with reduced metal production in the quarter. The company purchased put options for approximately 90 per cent of its 75 per cent share of Gibraltar's 2012 copper production, ensuring a minimum selling price of $3.50/lb.