Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Aimia Inc. (AIM-T), which is rejecting a hostile bid for its Aeroplan loyalty program, announced a new “preferred partnership” arrangement with Air Transat effective July 2020. Aeroplan Miles will be earned and redeemed on all Air Transat flights and vacation packages, the company stated.
"Adding Air Transat to Aeroplan come July 2020 further differentiates and significantly enhances our Aeroplan experience by bringing our members closer to their favourite sun and holiday destinations," said Jeremy Rabe, CEO of Aimia. "This is an exciting step toward our goal of providing Aeroplan Members with great value when both earning and redeeming miles on travel bookings to popular holiday and transatlantic destinations."
Separately, Aimia announced a partnership with Flair Airlines that will see Aeroplan become Flair's loyalty program. Starting July 2020, Aeroplan Members will be able to both earn Aeroplan Miles when booking flights on Flair routes and redeem for flights at fixed-rate fares, the company stated.
"The addition of Flair Airlines as a preferred partner airline further strengthens our air offering in Canada for Aeroplan Members come July 2020," said Mr. Rabe.
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Copper Mountain Mining Corp. (CMMC-T) reported second-quarter revenue of $84.2-million up from $67.1-million a year ago. Net income was $3.6-million or a penny per share versus $10.1-million or 5 cents a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $82.1-million and earnings of 3 cents per share.
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EQ Bank, a tradename of Equitable Bank (EQB-T) said it has surpassed $2-billion in deposits, which it called “an important milestone for the digital bank that now services more than 60,000 customers.”
“As Canada’s Challenger Bank, this milestone is showing that our approach is working to help Canadians rethink banking,” said Andrew Moor, CEO of Equitable Bank.
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Ensign Energy Services (ESI-T) reported second-quarter revenue of $263.1-million, an increase of 13 per cent from $232.2-million a year ago.
Its net loss for the second quarter was $36.7-million or 23 cents per share compared to a net loss of $33.8-million or 22 cents per share for the second quarter of 2017.
Analysts were expecting a loss of 26 cents and revenue of $249.3-million.
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Prometic Life Sciences Inc. (PLI-T) says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Rare Pediatric Disease Designation to its small molecule drug candidate, PBI-4050, for the treatment of Alström syndrome (AS).
“This is the first pediatric designation granted by the FDA to our small molecule drug candidate PBI-4050 and the third overall, following the previous two granted for our plasma-derived therapeutics candidates. This highlights the depth and value of our two drug discovery platforms,” said CEO Pierre Laurin.
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Nautilus Minerals Inc. (NUS-T) announced the departure of president and CEO Mike Johnston “with immediate effect.” Independent director John McCoach has been appointed as interim CEO.
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Slate Office REIT (SOT.UN-T) reported second-quarter net income was $23.6-million compared to $3.5-million for the same period last year. Rental revenue was $52.1-million compared to $36.2-million a year ago.
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True North Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (TNT.UN-T) has agreed to acquire a 61,000-square-foot office property in Markham, Ont. for $20.4-million.
"We are pleased to continue to deploy the proceeds from the July 2018 public unit offering into a property that fits well within the REIT's core strategy, being 100-per-cent occupied by credit-rated tenants with long-term leases," said REIT CEO Daniel Drimmer.
The company said the purchase will be satisfied by the proceeds from its July 2018 public unit offering, and first mortgage financing on the property/