A Bombardier logo is pictured during the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition at Geneva Airport, Switzerland on May 28, 2018.DENIS BALIBOUSE/Reuters
Bombardier Inc. BBC-A-T has a plan to boost its sagging stock price: a share consolidation that will take millions of its shares off the market.
Such a consolidation is often known as a reverse stock split. Companies with high per-share prices often undergo a normal stock split: For example, a 2-for-1 split doubles the share count and halves the per-share price. There’s no real economic change in the value to the stockholder, though.
A reverse split works the opposite way: Companies with low share prices have their shareholders turn in multiple shares to get just one in return. The per-share price goes up, even though the economic value doesn’t change.
Bombardier says it will likely pick a ratio between 1-for-10 and 1-for-30, meaning its shares, which closed at $1.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday, would trade instead for $15 to $45. Shareholders will vote on the proposal at the company’s May 5 annual meeting.
As of March 7, Bombardier had outstanding 308,734,229 Class A shares, each of which has 10 votes at the company’s annual meeting, and 2,133,526,542 Class B subordinate voting shares, with one vote apiece.
The share classes will be consolidated to the same ratio if the vote goes through, said Bombardier spokesman Mark Masluch, meaning the voting balance between the two would be maintained.
“It’s about rationalizing the total share volume of Bombardier,” he said. “Every shareholder will keep the same value and the same voting rights.”
Explaining the reasons for the move, Bombardier says in its management circular filed Friday it believes it is desirable for its stock to trade at a higher share price. An increase “could heighten the interest of the financial community in the corporation and potentially broaden the pool of investors that may consider investing or may be able to invest in the corporation.”
That could potentially increase the trading volume and liquidity, Bombardier believes. And it could help attract institutional investors that have internal policies that prohibit them from purchasing stocks below a certain minimum price, and investment dealers that discourage their brokers from recommending those stocks to clients.
Bombardier’s Class B shares last traded above $3 in March, 2019, and last traded above $5 in August, 2018. For roughly a year ending in May, 2021, they consistently traded below $1.
Also Friday, Bombardier disclosed it paid chief executive officer Éric Martel US$6.11-million in 2021. Mr. Martel made US$2.96-million in 2020 after starting with the company on April 6 that year.
Mr. Martel had a 2021 salary of US$900,900 and share and option awards valued at US$2.8-million. He received more than US$2-million in short- and long-term cash bonuses.
Other Bombardier executives who spent all of 2020 and 2021 with the company saw marked increases in pay.
Peter Likoray, the senior vice-president of sales for new aircraft, made US$3.55-million, up from US$1.68-million the prior year. His pay included a US$1.94-million bonus, up from US$1.16-million in 2020.
Daniel Brennan, the company’s senior vice-president for people and sustainability, made US$2.82-million, up from US$1.55-million in 2020. He received a US$785,600 retention bonus following Bombardier’s sale of its rail division to French giant Alstom, plus US$702,600 in short- and long-term cash bonuses.
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