The second floor entrance to the Sears store at Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket, Ont.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T) saw its patient base double in its last fiscal year to more than 58,000 as it sold 203 per cent more product, though the company posted a $16.7-million net loss for the year, up from $3.5-million in 2016.
For 2017's fourth quarter, the company's most recent, Canopy brought in revenue of $14.7-million, a 191-per-cent increase over a year earlier.
But it revealed a wider net loss for the quarter of $21.1-million, or 14 cents a share, versus $5.1-million or 5 cents the year prior.
Its loss last quarter before interest and tax – and adjusted to remove items including stock-based compensation, depreciation, biological asset-and-inventory accounting, and acquisition costs – grew to $5.3-million, versus $4.4-million last year.
Analysts were expecting a loss of 5 cents and revenue of $16.4-million in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
- Josh O'Kane
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Algoma Central Corp. (ALC-T) says it's suspending efforts to sell the Station Mall in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. "as a result of uncertainty created by the announcement by Sears Canada that the Sears store located in the Mall will be closed."
Sears Canada has been an anchor tenant of the Mall since it opened in 1973. Last week it said it would file for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act.
"Sears has subsequently indicated its intention to close the Station Mall store," Algoma said. "Although Algoma has yet to receive formal notification of Sears' intent for the store, the company has decided to suspend on-going discussions regarding a sale of the Mall until the uncertainty created by the announcement is resolved."
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Sears Canada Inc. (SCC-T; SRSC-Q) says it has received notice from the Listing Qualifications Department of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, "indicating that it has determined to delist the company's common shares ... and to suspend trading in the common shares at the opening of business on July 3, 2017, unless the company requests an appeal of that decision to delist the shares."
Sears Canada says it won't appeal the decision.
It said Nasdaq has made its determination based its recent filing for protection from its creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, as well as its failure to comply with a Nasdaq listing rule.
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Pretium Resources Inc. (PVG-T; PVG-N) says it's raising $5-million in a non-brokered private placement consisting of 329,000 flow-through common shares at $15.20 each.
"The proceeds of the offering will be used to fund grassroots exploration approximately 20 kilometers east of the Brucejack Mine," the company said. "The 2017 program will follow up on results from the 2016 grass-roots exploration program."
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Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (PWT-T; PWE-N) says its shareholders have approved a name change to Obsidian Energy Ltd., effective immediately.
"In conjunction with our name change, our stock symbol will be replaced with 'OBE' on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange, effective in the next three-to-five business days," the company said in a release.
"We are pleased to recognize the last step in our transformation with a name change to Obsidian Energy," said CEO David French.
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Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) reported its financial position as of June 23. It said total available liquidity and credit capacity stood at approximately $1.36-billion compared to $1.23-billion the day before and $1.12-billion on June 12.
Its Home Trust High-Interest Savings Account deposit balances stood at approximately $111.9-million, compared to $112.1-million the day before and $104.6-million on June 12.
Total GIC deposits stood at approximately $12.07-billion compared to $12.04-billion the day before and $12.05-billion on June 12.
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Mosaic Capital Corp. (M-X) said on Monday that is had appointed Monty Balderston as its new chief financial officer.
It said Allan Fowler resigned as CFO "to pursue other opportunities," and that "he leaves us with an experienced finance team in place that will help ensure a seamless CFO transition."
The company said Mr. Balderston has 20 years of experience in senior finance and accounting roles including CFO at Peak Energy Services Ltd. and Northern Frontier Corp.
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The Hydropothecary Corp. (THCX-X) says it's raising $20-million in a bought-deal private placement.
It has an agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp. and a syndicate of underwriters to buy 20,000 convertible debenture units of the company at $1,000 each.
The company said it intends to use the net proceeds for expansion of its production facility in Gatineau, Qué. and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
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Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPVD-T; MPVD-Q) reported proceeds of $21.1-million from its fifth diamond sale.
Value per carat was $95. Excluding some high-value diamonds, the average value realized per carat was $75.
"This reflects the finer size and lower quality distribution of this particular sales offering, as the company indicated in May would be the case in connection with its first quarter reporting," it said in a release. "Nonetheless, this fifth sale represents the company's strongest sale performance to date."
The company also provided an operational updating, saying mine operator De Beers Canada has advised that, "for geotechnical reasons a push-back of the east wall of the 5034 pit is required, and initial work on that push-back has now commenced."
The full cost hasn't yet been determined, the company said. "It is expected that the main effect will be spread over the next three years. Further information will be provided once the determination has been completed."
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Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARLZ-Q; ARZ-T) says the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey upheld the validity of two patents owned by a subsidiary of Aralez and licensed to Horizon Pharma plc.
It said the decision covers Vimovo and that the competitors "would infringe at least one of the two patents with their proposed generic naproxen/esomeprazole magnesium products."
"We are very pleased that the fair and appropriate ruling regarding this litigation was rendered," said Aralez CEO Adrian Adams. "This demonstrates the strength of our intellectual property portfolio for Vimovo and Yosprala. We remain committed to aggressively defending our intellectual property."
The company says it filed the patent infringement lawsuits starting back in 2011.
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GreenSpace Brands Inc. (JTR-X) says it has won 1,700 new points of distribution for 34 of its products across five different brands with Canadian grocery, pharmacy and quick service restaurant customers.
For example, the company says its Love Child brand has added 1,350 new stores for 14 of its products.
"Our sales team continues to fill the holes in the distribution network throughout Canada for all of our brands," said CEO Matthew von Teichman in a release.