Inside the Market's roundup of some of the Canadian small caps making news and on the move today. This post will be updated during the trading day.
Shares in Manitok Energy Inc. fell more than 13 per cent today after late Thursday reporting a net loss of 13 cents in its second quarter, swinging from a 7-cent profit a year earlier. The loss came even as production rose 15 per cent from a year earlier to 4,644 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Importantly, the company cut its 2014 production guidance as a result of unexpected problems at some of its facilities, which has restrained production reaching market. Manitok also provided a detailed review of operations and test wells.
"Due to the fact that much of the production behind pipe is represented by wells with high flowing test rates, the impact is severe on short-term production and cash flow when production timing is delayed," the company said in a statement. "Manitok feels that the current issues will be resolved over time as it works with the facility operators to correct the situation."
Acumen Capital Research analyst Trevor Reynolds cut his price target on Manitok to $3.25 (Canadian) from $4 after reviewing the results, but maintained a "speculative buy" rating. "On the whole, we view the quarter as negative with results below our estimates and decreased guidance for the year," he commented in a note. "Most worrisome to us is the earlier than expected gassing out of wells at Stolberg and implication for the future of the play and cash flow from the area moving forward. On a positive note, MEI's first horizontal at Entice came in stronger than expected. Given the capital commitments at Entice, MEI requires repeatability in the play moving forward. Continued success at Entice has the potential to provide a catalyst for MEI moving forward."
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Bird Construction Inc. has announced the retirement of its president and CEO Tim Talbott, who has been with the company for over a decade and has been CEO since 2010. He will be replaced by Ian Boyd as of January 1, 2015, who is currently the executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Bird.
Frederic Bastien, analyst with Raymond James, commented, "Although we believe Mr. Talbott's insight and integrity will be missed, this development does nothing to diminish our bullish view on the stock. We believe Bird has the managerial bench strength to continue building shareholder value. Our positive outlook is further reinforced by Bird's breakout 2Q14 performance, healthy backlog of oil sands work, strong balance sheet, industry-leading dividend yield and reasonable valuation."
Mr. Bastien reiterated a "strong buy" rating and $17 (Canadian) price target.
Shares in Bird Construction were nearly unchanged Friday.
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Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. said it has increased its stake in NioGold Mining Corp. to 19.5 per cent. The royalty company said it paid $4.9-million for 14 million flow-through shares of NioGold at a price of 35 cents per share.
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Western Forest Products Inc. announced today that it has finalized an agreement to amend and extend its revolving term loan facility. Maturity of the facility has been extended from June 29, 2017 to June 29, 2019 and certain restrictive covenants have been removed from the agreement. In addition, Western has reduced the effective interest rate on the term loan facility. Shares opened up 0.4 per cent.
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Canadian Energy Services & Technology Corp. said it has agreed to acquire all of the production and specialty chemical business assets of Southwest Treating Products, LLC. The acquisition of Southwest will accelerate the expansion of company's U.S. production and specialty chemicals operations into the west Texas Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas through a wholly owned subsidiary. Specific terms weren't disclosed, but it will involve a combination of cash and CES common shares.
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Lonestar West Inc. reported a net loss of 1 cent per share in the second quarter, missing analyst expectations for a profit of 3 cents. But the net loss improved to $132,744 from a loss of $448,696 the year before as revenues increased 54 per cent to $9.5-million in the second quarter compared to $6.2-million the previous year. The vacuum and hydro-vacuum services company said that revenue gains were due to strength in the U.S., where additional vacuum trucks have been added to its fleet.
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Champion Iron Ltd. said its CEO, Thomas Larsen, has resigned so that he can head up Cartier Iron Corp. He will no longer be a director of the company but will continue to be a consultant to the company for another year. Champion Iron holds a nearly 20 per cent stake in Cartier Iron.
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Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. reported a loss of 2 cents per share in the second quarter, matching street expectations. Revenue was at $2.3-million, compared to no revenues the year previous. The company operates three mines in Mexico.
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Arian Silver Corp. said that discussions to fully fund the company's flagship San Jose silver project continue to progress positively. In August 2013, the Company entered into a 12-month $15.6-million (U.S.) loan facility with Platinum Long Term Growth VIII, LLC convertible at the lender's option at $1.10 (Canadian) per share. The lender has confirmed their continued support of the Company and its funding strategy, extending the maturity date of the convertible note to Sept. 30, 2014 for $350,000 (U.S.).
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Monument Mining Ltd. has entered into an agreement to acquire the Tuckanarra gold operation in western Australia from Phosphate Australia Ltd. Monument will buy the project for $2-million (Australian) in cash with an additional issue of 10 million shares at 25 cents per unit. The Tuckanarra operations include eight exploration and prospecting licenses and a mining lease application covering almost 100 kilometres square of land, which holds an approximate historically-indicated and inferred amount of 100,000 ounces of gold.
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Brookfield Investments Corp. reported an EPS of 53 cents or a net income of $26-million in the seconds quarter. The company said that the gains were mostly driven by higher level of dividends received and positive foreign currency revaluation. Assets were up to $541-million versus $442-million the year before.