The Hydro One Pleasant Transfer Station is seen here in Brampton, Ont.Tim Fraser/The Globe and Mail
Visit this year's Top 1000 rankings of Canada's most profitable companies and find more tables, multimedia and analysis in Report on Business's full Top 1000 section. The most comprehensive database of Canadian corporate financial information is available for purchase in spreadsheet format here.
Hydro One
No. 31
CEO: Mayo Schmidt
Founded: 1998
After much hand-wringing, a 15% stake of Hydro One moved out of the public sector and into the portfolios of investors in what was the largest Canadian IPO in 15 years. Investors got a not-so-shabby return (about 13% in the past seven months), and the Ontario Liberals got to retire a thin slice of the largest non-sovereign debt in the world.
PrairieSky Royalty
No. 144
CEO: Andrew Phillips
Founded: 2013
Maybe one of the smartest ways to play oil and gas is not to extract the stuff yourself. PrairieSky was spun out of Encana, and it buys land, then collects royalties from producers who work it. Last November, the company concluded a blockbuster deal with Canadian Natural Resources to buy 5.4 million acres for $1.8 billion in cash and stock, bringing its total holdings to more than 14.7 million acres.
Spin Master
No. 152
Co-CEOs: Anton Rabie and Ronnen Harary
Founded: 1994
If you've got kids, you'll get why Spin Master turned a $452-million (U.S.) profit last year. Its Paw Patrol brand—a TV show and toy line—is a juggernaut. Plus, it owns Air Hogs, Meccano, Spy Gear, the Zoomer line of robotic toys, and Etch-a-Sketch, which it bought in February. Not bad, considering
the trio of founders started off hawking nylons stuffed with grass seeds.
Founders Advantage Capital
No. 181
CEO: Stephen Reid
Founded: 1998
Calgary-based Founders invests in the equity and debt of promising mid-sized North American companies. In May, it bought a 60% stake in Dominion Lending Centres, a mortgage broker with more than 350 offices across Canada, for $80 million. In a tentative economic recovery and a frothy real estate market, that takes, uh, confidence.
Osisko Gold Royalties
No. 200
CEO: Sean Roosen
Founded: 2014
Osisko is a so-called streamer—the kind of company that has helped gold producers cope with the punishment of falling bullion prices over the past three years. A streamer pays the producer with much-needed cash now for the right to purchase a stream of output in future years at a very low fixed price. Ian McGugan explains more on pg. 36.
Plus the coolest money-loser:
Shopify
No. 752
CEO: Tobias Lütke
Founded: 2004
Sure, it lost $18.8 million (U.S.) last year. But Shopify is still Canada's hottest tech company. More than 275,000 stores use its e-commerce platform (including Tesla, Budweiser and the LA Lakers), and it raised well over $1 billion in financing before going public a year ago