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Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.

Western Forest Products Inc. (WEF-T) announced the company and the United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 (USW) have agreed to the terms of a tentative collective agreement. The agreement is subject to a ratification vote by USW membership.

"The USW bargaining committee has advised that they will be recommending that its members accept this agreement," the company stated.

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Converge Technology Solutions Corp. (CTS-X) announced it has acquired Solutions P.C.D. Inc and P.C.D. Consultation Inc. (collectively PCD Solutions), a Canadian based partner focused on solutions in enterprise system architecture, storage and information management. “Consideration for the purchase consisted of a combination of cash, promissory notes and annual earn-out payments over three years,” the company said.

PCD Solutions generated revenue of approximately $33-million for the trailing 12-month period ended Nov. 30. Assuming no earn-out payments are made, the company said the purchase multiple for the transaction would be 5.2 times EBITDA for the trailing 12-month period ended Nov. 30 of approximately $2.3-million, or 4.6 times "after adjusting for positive working capital remaining in PCD Solutions at closing."

Assuming PCD Solutions achieves the minimum level of EBITDA to earn the full earn-out payments, the company said the purchase multiple would be approximately 5.5 times EBITDA of $3-million in the third year following closing, or 5 times after adjusting for positive working capital in PCD Solutions at closing. The cash portion of the purchase price was financed by Converge's credit facilities, the company stated.

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Just Energy Group Inc. (JE-T; JE-N) reported sales of $658.5-million in the third quarter ended Dec. 31 versus sales of $734.2-million in the quarter a year earlier. Analysts were expecting sales of $842-million in the more recent quarter.

Profit was $35.6-million versus a loss of $47.6-million a year earlier, the company said. Diluted earnings per share came in at 16 cents versus 25 cents a year ago.

The company also revised its full-year fiscal 2020 base EBITDA guidance from continuing operations to between $150-million to $170-million, from $180-million to $200-million, and decreased its fiscal year 2020 free cash flow guidance “to between $0-million to $20-million” from $50-million to $70-million.

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Intertape Polymer Group Inc. (ITP-T) announced it will acquire the operating assets of Nortech Packaging for US$36.5-million.

Nortech manufactures, assembles and services automated packaging machines under the Nortech Packaging and Tishma Technologies brands.

“The acquisition will expand IPG’s product bundle into technologies that are increasingly critical to automation in packaging,” the company stated.

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HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (HIVE-X) announced that it now expects about a 40-per-cent reduction in its operating and maintenance costs at its GPU mining facility in Sweden compared to such costs under its previous service provider agreement which it ended in November last year.

The company said the updated cost reduction figure is higher than the approximately 25 per cent that it had previously anticipated. "This improvement is the result of locking in a lower than anticipated electricity rate, stemming from an unusually warm winter in Sweden, for a majority of the company's electricity costs via hedging agreements that will continue through 2020," the company stated.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 3:59pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
WEF-T
Western Forest Products Inc
-1.56%0.63
HIVE-X
Hive Blockchain Technologies Inc
+3.4%4.56

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