A New Flyer hybrid bus makes its way through downtown Kelowna on May 4, 2005.Jeff Bassett
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Precision Drilling Corp (PD-T, PDS-N) says its executive vice president and chief financial officer, Robert McNally, has resigned effective March 10.
He's leaving for another job, the company said.
Precision Drilling said it has appointed Carey Ford, its senior vice president, operations finance, as interim CFO and is searching for a successor to Mr. McNally.
**
Parkland Fuel Corp. (PKI-T) says it's buying Propane Nord-Ouest, a propane marketing company focused on the mining industry in northwestern Québec, for $22.5 million.
"Propane Nord-Ouest represents a strategic expansion of Parkland's propane offering in Québec, a key growth area for our business," stated Parkland CEO Bob Espey.
Parkland said it's purchasing the business from the Mirault family.
The announcement comes the same week Parkland said it was buying assets from Imperial Oil, including its On the Run / Marché Express convenience store franchise.
**
Savaria Corp. (SIS-T) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $26.6 million, a record and up 23.8 from a year earlier.
That was above analysts' expectations of $25.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company also reported record earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $4.4 million, up 44.2 per cent from a year earlier.
**
New Flyer Industries (NFI-T) says Long Beach Transit has awarded the company a contract for up to 129 heavy-duty, 40-foot Xcelsior compressed natural gas buses.
"The contract includes a firm order for 40 Xcelsior XN40 buses valued at approximately $22 million (U.S.), with options for an additional 89 units over the next five years," New Flyer stated. "The initial order will replace older vehicles in Long Beach Transit's current fleet with new fuel efficient Xcelsior XN40 buses."
**
Belo Sun Mining Corp. (BSX-T) says gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (AEM-T) is making an additional strategic investment of $6.19 million into the company through a non-brokered private placement of common shares.
Agnico Eagle is buying 11.68 million common shares 53 cents each. Agnico Eagle will own 74.18 million shares, or 19.95 per cent of Belo Sun, the company said.
"We are very pleased with Agnico Eagle's continued support as a strategic shareholder," stated Belo Sun CEO Peter Tagliamonte. "This investment further endorses the quality and potential of the Volta Grande Project. This additional source of capital will allow us to continue advancing the detailed engineering in preparation for construction."
Belo Sun has a portfolio of gold-focused properties in Brazil.
**
Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. (CEU-T) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $165 million, down 41 per cent from a year earlier.
Analysts were looking for revenues of $179.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company, also known as CES, also reported a net loss of $114.4 million or 52 cents per share, compared to net income of $24.2 million or 11 cents a year earlier.
Its annual revenues fell to $749.6 million in 2015, compared to $972.7 million in 2014
"CES' 2015 results are reflective of the difficult industry conditions with reduced activity levels lowering revenue and price discounting resulting in margin compression," the company stated. "CES remains cautious with its outlook as 2016 looks even more challenging with no visibility to a turnaround in the current low oil price and weak natural gas price environment. The end result is that until commodity prices improve, CES sees weak upstream activity across North America and very thin margins to be realized on that work."
**
GMP Capital Inc. (GMP-T) says fourth-quarter revenue fell 33 per cent to $35.3 million year-over-year, reflecting a 60-per-cent drop in investment banking fees.
GMP recorded a net loss of $15.6 million or 26 cents per share in fourth quarter, which compared with a net loss of $6.9 million or 12 cents per share a year earlier.
"Uncertain market conditions produced a sharp contraction in client activity in the second half of 2015 that was particularly pronounced in the fourth quarter. This and the impact of the costs we recognized in connection with our previously announced restructuring of the Capital Markets segment resulted in disappointing financial performance for GMP," stated CEO Harris Fricker.
**
K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL-T) says fourth-quarter revenues rose 11.5 per cent to $37.7 million in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier.
The revenues were in line with analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization decreased by $100,000 to $6.2 million.
Net earnings were down 30 per cent in the quarter to $2.2 million from $3.1 million a year earlier.
**
Cascades Inc. (CAS-T) reported fourth-quarter sales of $975 million, down 11 per cent from $879 million in the same quarter last year.
The latest revenue report beat analysts' expectation of $965 million, according to Thomson Reuters.
Net earnings were $20 million of 23 cents per share, compared to $8 million or 8 cents a year earlier.