TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (19,255.92, down 101.03 points.)
Royal Bank of Canada. (TSX:RY). Financials. Up 37 cents, or 0.31 per cent, to $118.11 on 9.1 million shares.
Zenabis Global Inc. (TSX:ZENA). Health care. Down 1.5 cents, or 12 per cent, to 11 cents on 8.6 million shares.
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (TSX:BIR). Energy. Unchanged at $3.11 on 6.9 million shares.
Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX:BTE). Energy. Up 10 cents, or 7.14 per cent, to $1.50 on 6.2 million shares.
Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up 10 cents, or 0.38 per cent, to $26.66 on 5.5 million shares.
Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC). Financials. Up 22 cents, or 0.82 per cent, to $26.99 on 5.5 million shares.
Companies in the news:
BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE). Up 30 cents to $57.99. BCE's Bell Canada is well-positioned to compete with longtime rival Rogers Communications Inc. or a new challenge from Elon Musk's Starlight satellite internet service, the CEO of Canada's largest telecom and media said Thursday. BCE confirmed on the weekend that it attempted to outbid Rogers for Calgary-based Shaw Communications Inc. but withdrew after unspecified regulatory issues mentioned in a Shaw information disclosure to its shareholders. Mirko Bibic, who is president and chief executive of both BCE and Bell Canada, said Thursday the company always looks at opportunities that make sense for its shareholders, looked at Shaw and decided not to proceed. He also noted that Bell announced earlier this year that it would increase its capital spending by between $1 billion and $1.2 billion, above its normal spending, to build more high-speed fibre-optic internet and wireless network coverage. Earlier Thursday, BCE Inc. reported net earnings attributable to common shareholders amounted to $642 million or 71 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31. That was down from a profit of $680 million or 75 cents per share in the first three months of 2020.
Transat AT Inc. (TSX:TRZ). Up 27 cents, or six per cent, to $4.80. Travel company Transat AT Inc. says it has reached a deal with Ottawa to borrow up to $700 million, nearly half of which will go toward refunding travellers for cancelled flights. The reimbursement for customers who were scheduled to leave on or after Feb. 1, 2020, will begin immediately, the airline said Thursday. The money, which arrives after months of negotiations, will come through the federal government's Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility, the same program used to help Air Canada. Transat said $390 million will be used to help support its business, while $310 million will be used to provide reimbursements to travellers. In reporting its most recent financial results in March, Transat estimated it would need at least $500 million to get through the year if a proposed takeover by Air Canada fell through. Air Canada withdrew its $190-million bid for the company earlier this month after learning EU regulators would not allow the deal to go ahead.
Whitecap Resources Inc. (TSX:WCP). Up seven cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $5.52. The CEO of Whitecap Resources Inc. says his company is working to expand its ability to capture, store and use carbon dioxide to enhance oil recovery in spite of Ottawa's decision to exclude such projects from proposed investment tax credits in its recent budget. The federal budget last week called for a consultation period to settle on final design of the proposed tax credit which would encourage major emitters in Canada to avoid releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere where it is a factor in global warming. Whitecap's Weyburn project is responsible for about half of the four million tonnes of carbon dioxide sequestered each year in Canada. It injects it into an oilfield to enhance production, piping it in from a plant in North Dakota, and says it's possible to double that volume. It says the much smaller Joffre CCUS project in central Alberta, acquired with the takeover of NAL Resources Ltd. earlier this year, could be more than doubled to store about 45,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from 21,500 tonnes in 2020. Its carbon dioxide source is a nearby petrochemical plant.
Molson Coors Beverage Co. (TSX:TPX.B). Up $4.03, or 6.3 per cent, to $68. Molson Coors Beverage Co. said it expects to be in a position to reinstate its dividend in the second half of this year after its first-quarter profit beat expectations even as its revenue dropped nearly 10 per cent from a year ago. The brewery and beverage company suspended its quarterly dividend and furloughed some employees as part of efforts last May due to global uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Molson Coors, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said its net income attributable to shareholders increased to US$84.1 million or 39 cents per diluted share in the first quarter, compared with a loss of US$117 million or 54 cents per share a year earlier. Net sales for the three months ended March 31 fell to US$1.9 billion, from US$2.1 billion a year earlier. The company faced a cybersecurity incident, a winter storm in Texas that caused its Fort Worth brewery to lose power and government sales restrictions in Britain in the quarter. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted profit fell to US$1.6 million or one cent per share, down from US$77 million or 35 cents per share in the first quarter of 2020. Molson Coors was expected on average to lose 10 cents per share on revenue of US$1.88 billion, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2021.
The Canadian Press
