TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:
Toronto Stock Exchange (19,107.77, down 166.27 points.)
Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Up 11 cents, or 0.23 per cent, to $48.30 on 12.8 million shares.
Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up 57 cents, or 2.06 per cent, to $28.24 on 10.2 million shares.
Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC). Financials. Down seven cents, or 0.27 per cent, to $25.55 on nine million shares.
Crescent Point Energy Corp. (TSX:CPG). Energy. Down two cents, or 0.39 per cent, to $5.06 on 8.9 million shares.
Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE). Energy. Up 26 cents, or 2.78 per cent, to $9.60 on 7.7 million shares.
Zenabis Global Inc. (TSX:ZENA). Health care. Down two cents, or 14.29 per cent, to 12 cents on 6.3 million shares.
Companies in the news:
Cenovus Energy Inc. — The CEO of Cenovus Energy Inc. says he's optimistic that his oil and gas company's second consecutive online annual shareholders meeting webcast on Wednesday will be its last. Alex Pourbaix says the global rollout of vaccines to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic gives him hope that next year's meeting will be held in person, with the possible addition of a simultaneous webcast for out-of-town investors. In their first shareholders meeting since Cenovus bought Husky Energy Inc., former Husky directors Canning Fok, Wayne Shaw, Frank Sixt and Eva Kwok were elected to Cenovus's 12-member board. They had been appointed earlier under terms of the acquisition. In January 2020, Cenovus committed $50 million over five years to build up to 200 houses to help alleviate a severe housing shortage in six First Nation and Métis communities near its oilsands operations in northern Alberta. He said shareholders have much to celebrate, with Cenovus on the way to cutting net debt to $10 billion by year-end thanks to higher oil prices, along with the reinstatement of a dividend and a 96 per cent recovery in the share price between the October Husky acquisition announcement and the end of April.
Transat AT. (TSX:TRZ). Up two cents to $4.50. Air Transat has extended the suspension of its flights until July 29, due to continued travel restrictions in Canada and abroad. The airline run by tour company Transat AT advised passengers of the extension of the suspension that was slated to end in mid-June in a travel advisory on its website. It says affected customers will receive a notice informing them of their options. The Montreal-based airline's operations have been grounded since the Canadian government's request in January to stop travel to Mexico and the Caribbean because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transat reached a deal with Ottawa last month to borrow up to $700 million, nearly half of which will go toward refunding travellers. The company sought the support after Air Canada withdrew its $190-million bid for Transat after learning that European Union regulators would not allow the deal to go ahead.
Freshii Inc. (TSX:FRII). Down one cent to $1.95. Freshii Inc. has recorded a million-dollar loss in its first quarter as many of its restaurants remain temporarily closed due to COVID-19. The Toronto-based company reported a net loss of $1.05 million for the 13 weeks ended March 28, compared with a net loss of $2.49 million in the same quarter last year. It reported an adjusted net loss of $549,000, up from an adjusted net loss of $1.21 million in the first quarter of 2020. Revenue totalled $2.89 million, down from $4.56 million in the same quarter last year. Freshii said system-wide sales were $23.3 million in the quarter, compared with $37.2 million last year — a decrease of $13.9 million or 37 per cent. The company said 43 locations remained temporarily closed at the end of the first quarter out of its 401 stores. Freshii's total number of stores was down 10 from the fourth quarter of 2020 after it opened seven new stores in the quarter but closed 17 locations — the majority of which had not been open and operating since the first quarter of 2020.
Crescent Point Energy Corp. — Crescent Point Energy Corp. reported a first-quarter profit of $21.7 million compared with a $2.3-billion loss a year ago when oil prices were falling at the start of the pandemic. The company says the profit amounted to four cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31. Crescent Point lost $4.40 per diluted share a year ago when it took a non-cash impairment charge of $3.56 billion on its oil and gas assets as a result of the drop in energy prices. Oil and gas sales in the first quarter of this year totalled $630.2 million, up from $584.4 million in the same quarter last year, while average daily production fell to 119,384 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 141,330 boepd a year ago. Its average selling price was $58.65 per barrel of oil equivalent, up from $42.64 in the same quarter last year. Crescent Point says its adjusted earnings from operations for its first quarter totalled $95.1 million or 18 cents per share, up from $48.7 million or nine cents per share in the first three months of 2020.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2021.
The Canadian Press
