The Alibaba Group will distribute children’s programming such as Teletubbies in China through a deal with DHX Media of Halifax.The Associated Press
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
DHX Media (DHX.A-T;DHX.B-T;DHX-N) will raise its dividend and buy back up to 10 per cent of its outstanding shares over the next year.
The announcements came as the Halifax-based producer of child- and youth-oriented TV programs issued its financial report for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30 – a period of rapid growth for DHX.
Annual revenue more than doubled to $264-million, adjusted earnings more than tripled to $38.4-million and net income rose 150 per cent to $1.5-million or 16 cents per share.
In the fourth quarter, DHX Media's revenue was $71.2-million, up 139 per cent from $29.7-million a year earlier, that was ahead of the analyst consensus estimate of $64.4-million.
Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was $22.8-million, better than the Street's expectation of $21.7-million. However adjusted earnings came in at 4 cents per share, slightly below the consensus estimate of 5.5 cents per share.
Net income for the quarter was $3.7-million or three cents per share, up from $1-million or one cent per share. Adjusted net income was $5-million or four cents per share, up from $2.6-million or two cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2014.
DHX said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 1.5 cents per share on Oct. 16, up 7.1 per cent from the previous dividend. It has also received permission to buy back and cancel about 8.2 million of its public shares.
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Toronto-based beverage maker Cott Corp. (BCB-T;COT-N) said its DS Services Business Unit has acquired the home and office bottled water delivery business of Consolidated Water Group, which has customers in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and has significant overlap with its DS Services Business Unit's current footprint.
"The acquisition supports Cott's previously announced objective of strategic acquisitions where synergies with its existing business can be leveraged," the company said, and the acquisition will add thousands of new customers to Cott's DS Services business. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Toronto-based Nautilus Minerals Inc. (NUS-T) said the steel cutting ceremony for the company's production support vessel was held on Friday at the shipyard of Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding Ltd. "The vessel is to be used by Nautilus and its PNG partner, Eda Kopa (Solwara) Ltd., as the base for its seafloor operations planned at the Solwara 1 Project, in the Bismarck Sea of Papua New Guinea," the company said.
"Our objective remains to develop the world's first commercial high grade seafloor copper-gold project and launch the deep water seafloor resource production industry. With the eyes of the world waiting to see the dawn of this new industry, we look forward to taking delivery of the vessel in December, 2017 to enable us to commence our seafloor operations in the first quarter of 2018." said Nautilus' CEO Mike Johnston.
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Pattern Energy Group Inc. (PEGI-Q;PEG-T) said its 200 megawatt Logan's Gap Wind facility in Comanche County, Texas, has completed construction and is fully operational, expanding its operations in Texas to four. The company also said the Logan Gap Wind facility has a long-term power purchase agreement with Walmart.
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Calgary-based High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (HWO-T) said its chief financial officer Ken Olson is resigning but will remain with the company until his replacement has been appointed. The company has begun a search for Mr. Olson's successor, it said.
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Montreal-based PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (PYR-X), which makes plasma waste-to-energy systems and plasma torch products, said it received an order from Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion & Repair to train U.S. Navy sailors on its Plasma Arc Waste Destruction System Engineering Design Model at its manufacturing facility in Montreal. The first group of sailors are expected to arrive in the fall of 2015, with the cost of the four-week training course being $100,000 the company said.
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Vancouver-based Kaminak Gold Corp. (KAM-X) said it intends to issue 27,439,024 units at a price of 82 cents per unit in a non-brokered private placement to Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund L.P. and existing, large shareholders including Ross Beaty and Zebra Holdings and Investments S.a.r.l., Luxembourg (a company owned by a Trust whose settlor was the late Adolf H. Lundin) for gross proceeds of $22.5-million. Following this transaction, Electrum will own a 10.32 per cent stake in the company, it said.
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Montreal-based Knight Therapeutics Inc. (GUD-T), said that through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, it has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Profounda Inc. to commercialize Impavido (miltefosine), an oral treatment for visceral, mucosal and cutaneous leishmaniasis, in the United States. Knight previously licensed the ex-U.S. global rights to Impavido to Paladin Labs Inc. until February, 2024. Leishmaniasis is a is a disease caused by the bite of certain sandflies, and can cause skin ulcers, fever low red blood cells and an enlarged spllen or liver.
Under the terms of the agreement, Profounda will be responsible for leading all commercial activities related to Impavido in the United States in exchange for a share of Impavido's U.S. net sales. Knight is responsible for product supply and regulatory management.
With files from The Canadian Press