TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (19,228.03, down 0.84 of a point.)
The Supreme Cannabis Co. Inc. (TSX:FIRE). Health care. Up half a cent, or 1.27 per cent, to 40 cents on 28.5 million shares.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank. (TSX:TD). Financials. Up 20 cents, or 0.24 per cent, to $82.88 on 9.7 million shares.
Trican Well Service Ltd. (TSX:TCW). Energy. Down four cents, or 1.91 per cent, to $2.05 on 4.1 million shares.
I3 Energy Plc. (TSX:ITE). Energy. Down half a cent, or 2.86 per cent, to 17 cents on 3.9 million shares.
Nutrien Ltd. (TSX:NTR), Materials. Up seven cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $68.75 on 3.7 million shares.
Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX:OGI). Health care. Down 15 cents, or 3.78 per cent, to $3.82 on 3.7 million shares.
Companies in the news:
Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX). Down one cent to $26.57. Barrick Gold Corp. says its suspended gold mine in Papua New Guinea will resume operations later this year after negotiations to settle a bitter dispute with the national government resulted in the state taking a much larger ownership stake. The Porgera gold mine was suspended last April when the government refused to renew the special mining lease for operator Barrick Niugini Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture owned by Toronto-based Barrick and China's Zijin Mining Group Ltd. Under the renegotiated agreement, the 95 per cent stake in the mine held by BNL drops to 49 per cent and the government's ownership jumps from five per cent to 51 per cent, although BNL will still be the operator. However, Barrick says the economic benefits generated over the life of mine are to be split on a 53-47 per cent basis with the larger share going to the government. It says BNL has to pay all the capital costs of restarting the mine and, in 10 years, the state will have the right to buy its 49 per cent stake at fair market value.
MTY Food Group Inc. (TSX:MTY). Down 57 cents, or one per cent, to $55.60. MTY Food Group Inc. continued to grapple with the impact of the pandemic in its latest quarter as the drop in fast-food sales at malls and office towers took a bite out of profits. The restaurant franchisor and operator behind more than 80 brands including food court staples like Thai Express and Tiki-Ming reported a first-quarter profit of $13.4 million on Friday — down from $19 million a year ago. The Montreal-based company said sales at malls were down 69 per cent while office tower sales fell 89 per cent. The staggering decline in food court sales left restaurants with street access accounting for 84 per cent of MTY's system-wide sales. Eric Lefebvre, chief executive of MTY, said the pandemic's disruption will have a lasting impact on the company but it's unclear whether the shift in customer consumption patterns will be permanent. Lefebvre said while the "lesser malls" might disappear in the future, the "good malls will always exist."
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX:CJR.B). Up 41 cents, or seven per cent, to $6.26. Corus Entertainment Inc. announced a distribution deal with U.S. streaming service Hulu Friday as it reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results. The Toronto-based company — which owns one of Canada's largest radio groups, the Global television network and dozens of specialty cable channels — said its Corus Studios division has signed a deal to sell more than 200 episodes of programming to Hulu. Hulu — jointly owned by Disney and NBCUniversal — will acquire the first three seasons of "Backyard Builds" as well as other renovation and food-related titles such as "Family Home Overhaul," "$ave My Reno" and "Big Food Bucket List." Financial details of the deal weren't announced, but Corus chief executive Doug Murphy told analysts on a conference call that it was a "breakthrough" multi-year agreement. It reported a second-quarter profit of $35.3 million or 17 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Feb. 28, up from $18.5 million or nine cents per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue totalled nearly $358.9 million, down from nearly $376 million.
Redline Communications. (TSX:RDL). Up one cent, or 1.9 per cent, to 54 cents. Redline Communications will receive $14 million in federal funds to design high-speed wireless equipment for use in the mining, utilities and oil and gas sectors. Funds for Redline's 5G technology project comes from the federal government's strategic innovation fund for eligible corporations doing business in Canada. The funds will support a $39.5-million Redline project that the company says will create or maintains 111 jobs and up to 13 co-op jobs. Redline's project will design high-speed wireless equipment to remotely monitor machinery for the mining, utility and oil and gas industries. The previously announced strategic innovation fund is designed to provide contributions of $10 million or more toward projects with total costs of at least $20 million.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2021.
The Canadian Press
