Sunshine Oilsands Ltd., largely backed by state-owned Chinese enterprises and Asian retail investors, faces 71 lawsuits seeking a total of $94-million for unpaid bills.
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 Pethealth Inc. rose 25 per cent Tuesday after Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. announced late Friday it will pay about $100-million to acquire the company.
Under the deal, Fairfax has offered $2.79 per share in cash for all of the company's common shares, as well as $2.79 in cash for its preferred shares, plus any dividends accrued but unpaid up until the day before the deal closes.
The share offer itself is a 26 per cent premium to the company's closing stock price of $2.21 on Friday and represents a premium of about 69 per cent to the closing price of on Aug. 15, when Pethealth announced it was reviewing strategic alternatives.
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The board of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. has accepted the resignation of David Sealock as interim president and CEO, effective immediately. Michael Hibberd, executive chairman of the company, has assumed direct responsibility for all CEO tasks.
Mr. Sealock wished to pursue other opportunities, according to a statement from Sunshine Oilsands. He was with Sunshine since 2008 and served as interim president and CEO since Dec. 10, 2013. "The board of directors confirms that there are no matters that need to be brought to the attention of shareholders in connection with this resignation," the statement said.
The Chinese-backed company's 10,000-barrel-a-day West Ells oil sands project in northern Alberta has been on hold since August of 2013, when it halted work following a series of cost overruns and delays.
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Clarus Securities has initiated coverage on Romarco Minerals Inc. with an enthusiastic "speculative buy" rating and $1.25 (Canadian) price target.
"In our view, Romarco is a must-own gold developer for exposure to its best-in-class 4.8-million-ounce Haile project in South Carolina," commented analyst Jamie Spratt. "We expect that Haile's scalable, high -margin production profile in a good jurisdiction will see Romarco join the ranks of the premier gold producers over time. With permitting and development milestones ahead, we expect a significant re-rating in the next 6-12 months and in the longer term."
Shares in the company, however, opened down 1.1 per cent amid general weakness in the gold sector this morning.
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Dundee Securities has added oil and gas company Yangarra Resources Ltd. to its top picks list.
Yangarra Resources, engaged in the production and development of resource properties in the Medicine Hat, Jaslan and Viking areas of Alberta, has seen its production grow organically to about 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day, and is focused on cost control.
Dundee has a $5 (Canadian) price target on the stock, and provided four reasons to buy the stock.
"• Value - one of the lowest cash flow valuations in our domestic oil & gas coverage universe.
• Top quartile results – Yangarra is top quartile in cash costs (operating costs + G&A + interest costs), recycle ratio, and insider ownership amongst our coverage universe.
• Improved running room – a recent update to the company's low risk Cardium and Glauconite drilling opportunities will provide years of drilling. The Company now has 147 gross (107 net) Cardium locations (half cycle IRR's of 106%, 13 month payout) and 41 gross (34 net) Glauconite locations (122% IRR, 11 month payout). The majority have not been booked in the reserve report.
• Duvernay upside – we consider this a free option in the stock. Very little capital is devoted to these assets, but they could be worth as much as the rest of the Company if solid results are achieved by nearby competitors."
Dundee's top picks for September total 20 stocks, seven of which are in the energy sector: Raging River Exploration, Tamarack Valley Energy, NuVista Energy, Bellatrix Exploration, Whitecap Resources, Surge Energy and Yangarra.
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Haywood Securities initiated coverage on Panterra Resource with a "buy" rating and 70 cents (Canadian) price target.
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M Partners cut its target on Marlin Gold Mining to $2 (Canadian) from $2.50 and maintained a "buy" rating.
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Concordia Healthcare Corp. said its subsidiary, Pinnacle Biologics Inc., has signed a collaboration agreement for Photofrin with Orphan Canada, a Toronto-based specialty pharmaceutical company that inlicenses therapies for rare disorders and specialty medicines within Canada. Under the agreement, Pinnacle and Orphan Canada will partner to support the continued supply of Photodynamic Therapy using Photofrin in Canada. The drug is approved in Canada for the treatment of certain forms of gastrointestinal, lung and bladder cancers.
"Orphan Canada will provide a distribution infrastructure for Concordia within Canada," Mark Thompson, CEO of Concordia, said in a statement. "This relationship should provide us with operating flexibility and a depth and scale of product development that may increase access to treatments for patients with rare forms of cancer."
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Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. said a syndicate of underwriters has agreed to purchase 29.3 million of its common shares at a price of $2.05 (Canadian). Gross proceeds of $60-million will be used to fund ongoing capital expenditures, pay down debt and for general corporate purchases. The underwriters also have an option to purchase up to an additional 4.3 million shares under the same terms to cover any over- allotments.
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Flinders Resources Ltd. and Big North Graphite Corp. announced that they have entered into a binding letter agreement that will see Flinders acquire all common shares of Big North. Under the terms of the deal, Big North shareholders will receive one Flinders common share for each 9 Big North common shares. This will result in the issue of approximately 9 million Flinders shares in exchange for 81 million Big North shares.
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Sama Resources Inc. announced a new mineralized surface discovery showing grading of up to 2.11 per cent nickel and up to 1.89 per cent copper. This newly discovered mineralized sector, Bounta, is located nine kilometers southwest of the Samapleu nickel and copper deposits at the Samapleu project, Ivory Coast, West Africa.
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Laramide Resources Ltd. said the Global X Uranium ETF now holds 7.1 million of its common shares, or 9 per cent of its voting power.
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Strategic Oil & Gas Ltd. announced an acceleration to its Muskeg development program and the completion of a $10-million loan (U.S.) agreement.
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Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd. announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with Shandong Realcan Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and will make an application to the TSX Venture Exchange to allow a strategic investment in Ventripoint of up to $4-million.
Shandong Realcan will immediately seek regulatory approval from the Chinese FDA to sell the VMS heart analysis system in China.
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True Gold Mining Inc. reported a loss of 2 cents per share in the second quarter, missing expectations of a 1-cent loss. Net loss totaled $6.6-million, up from the $9.3-million loss this time last year. The company continues to develop its gold mine in Burkina Faso.
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Great Prairie Energy Services Inc. reported revenues of $3.6-million in the second quarter, while EBITDA was at $500,000. EPS dropped to a loss of 1 cent per share compared to nil earnings the same period a year before. The company says that it remains hopeful about results in the latter half of the year, as exploration and production companies have been raising more capital in the first half of 2014.
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