Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Dye & Durham Ltd. (DND-T) announced an agreement with the Ontario government to extend its current arrangement as an authorized service provider of Ontario Business Registry search, registration and filings services.
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Immunoprecise Antibodies Ltd. (IPA-X) announced an agreement to acquire, through its wholly-owned subsidiary ImmunoPrecise Netherlands BV, control over BioStrand BV, BioKey BV, and BioClue BV, a group of Belgian biotech entities and pioneers in the field of bioinformatics and biotechnology.
The company said it will buy all of the issued and outstanding shares of Idea Family BV, a private limited liability company holding 75.01 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares of BioStrand and the remaining 24.99 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares of BioStrand, the whole for a total consideration of approximately € 20 million, plus a potential earnout consideration.
“This transaction is expected to create short and long-term commercialization opportunities with clients and partners by introducing a novel AI-powered protein-protein interactions prediction platform and fortifying IPA’s sequencing with massive throughput capabilities in omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) interrogation,’ the company stated.
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Converge Technology Solutions Corp. (CTS-T) announced the appointment of Richard Lecoutre to the position of chief financial officer.
He’s currently serving as finance director at Softcat PLC where he is responsible for all finance operations, the company stated.
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Cargojet Inc. (CJT-T) announced a new long-term strategic agreement with DHL Network Operations (USA) Inc., an affiliate of Deutsche Post DHL Group, for a five-year term with a renewal option for an additional two years. Cargojet will provide air-transportation services for DHL’s global network.
“The agreement is expected to be meaningfully accretive to Cargojet’s earnings and cash flows over time and help Cargojet further diversify its portfolio of services in line with its previously announced strategic goal of achieving a balanced portfolio,” the company stated.
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Calfrac Well Services Ltd. (CFW-T) announced that it will suspend shipments of its products to Russia.
Calfrac said late Monday it was announcing “the suspension of any investments in the Russian Federation as the company meets its contractual obligations in strict compliance with all applicable laws and sanctions.”
Calfrac noted that although the provision of parts and equipment to Russia is “not restricted by applicable sanctions, the company cancelled such shipments that were bound for Russia at the onset of the Ukraine invasion.”
- file from David Milstead.
Read the Globe’s full story on this news here
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Superior Plus Corp. (SPB-T) announced a deal to buy the retail propane distribution and refined fuels assets of Quarles Petroleum Inc. for about US$145-million.
Quarles services approximately 55,000 residential and commercial customers primarily in Virginia, the company stated, and has 29 propane bulk plants, one rail terminal, approximately three million gallons of storage capacity, a fleet of 197 vehicles and approximately 181 employees.
Superior expects Quarles to generate approximately US$19-million adjusted EBITDA on an annual run-rate basis 24 months following the close of the acquisition.
The company also announced a $250-million bought-deal financing. Superior said it has agreement with a syndicate of underwriters bookrun by CIBC Capital Markets to buy about 22.3 million shares for $11.20 each. Brookfield, through its special investments program, is participating as an anchor investor in the offering and is committed to purchasing approximately $75-million in shares at the offering price, the company stated.
The net proceeds of the offering will be used to reduce debt and for general corporate purposes including to fund future acquisitions, the company stated.
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D2L Inc. (DTOL-T) reported fourth-quarter revenue of US$41.4-million, which was in line with expectations and up 22 per cent from the year-earlier period.
Its loss for the period decreased to US$3.9-million compared with a loss of US$11.2-million a year earlier. “The year-over-year improvement was mainly attributable to an increase in gross profit and the fact the prior-year period included a US$8.1 million loss on redeemable convertible preferred shares,” the company stated.
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Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (EGLX-T) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $56.9-million, up from $42.5-million a year earlier. The expectation was for revenue of $54.9-million, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Its net loss was $12.9-million or 10 cents per share versus a loss of $6.9-million or 6 cents a year ago, according to documents filed on Sedar.com. the expectation was for a loss of 7 cents per share.
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Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPVD-T) announced that it sold 809,000 carats in the fourth quarter for total proceeds of $85.1-million compared to 957,000 carats or $80.2-million a year ago. The average realized value was $105 per carat versus $84 per carat a year ago, the company stated.
Net income came in at $237.6-million or $1.13 earnings per share for the fourth quarter, which included an impairment reversal on property, plant and equipment of $240.6-million. That compared to a loss of $189.2-million to 90 cents a year earlier.
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