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Imperial Oil Ltd. raised its quarterly dividend by 20 per cent as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.37 billion, down from $1.73 billion a year earlier.
The company says shareholders will now receive a quarterly dividend payment of 60 cents per share, up from 50 cents per share.
The increased payment came as Imperial reported its fourth-quarter profit amounted to $2.47 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from a profit of $2.86 per diluted share a year earlier as it faced lower commodity prices.
Revenue and other income totalled $13.11 billion, down from $14.45 billion in the last three months of 2022.
The company says upstream production in the quarter averaged 452,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day, up from 441,000 in the same period a year earlier.
Refinery throughput averaged 407,000 barrels per day compared with 433,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2022, while capacity utilization was 94 per cent compared with 101 per cent a year earlier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2024.
OpenText Corp. says it earned US$37.7 million in its second quarter, down 85 per cent from US$258.5 million during the same quarter last year.
The company saw its operating expenses nearly double for the quarter, and was also hit with significantly higher interest and other related expenses.
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company says revenues for the quarter were US$1.5 billion, up from US$897.4 million a year earlier.
Earnings per diluted share were 14 cents US, up from 96 cents US a year earlier.
CEO Mark Barrenechea says OpenText remains on track to close the divestment of its AMC business to Rocket Software, Inc. in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.
Executive vice-president and chief financial officer Madhu Ranganathan says the company expects to bring recent acquisitionMicro Focus on to the OpenText operating model by the end of the fiscal year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2024.
Companies announced the highest level of job cuts in January since early 2023, a potential trouble spot for a labor market that will be in sharp focus this year, according to a report Thursday from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
The job outplacement firm said planned layoffs totaled 82,307 for the month, a jump of 136% from December though still down 20% from the same period a year ago.
It was the second-highest layoff total and the lowest planned hiring level for the month of January in data going back to 2009.
Technology and finance were the hardest-hit sectors, with high-flying Silicon Valley leaders such as Microsoft, Alphabet and PayPal announcing workforce cuts to start the year. Amazon also said it would be cutting as did UPS in the biggest month for layoffs since March 2023.
“Waves of layoff announcements hit US-based companies in January after a quiet fourth quarter,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of the firm. The cuts were “driven by broader economic trends and a strategic shift towards increased automation and AI adoption in various sectors, though in most cases, companies point to cost-cutting as the main driver for layoffs,”
Financial sector layoffs totaled 23,238, the worst month for the category since September 2018. Tech layoffs totaled 15,806, the highest since May 2023. Food producers announced 6,656, the highest since November 2012.
“High costs and advancing automation technology are reshaping the food production industry. Additionally, climate change and immigration policies are influencing labor dynamics and operational challenges in this sector,” Challenger said.
The report follows news Wednesday from ADP that private payrolls increased by just 107,000 for the month. On Friday, the Labor Department will be releasing its nonfarm payrolls count, which is expected to show growth of 185,000.
Initial jobless claims totaled 224,000 for the week ended Jan. 27, up 9,000 from the previous week. Continuing claims, which run a week behind, jumped by 70,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Canadian manufacturing activity declined for a ninth straight month in January but there was a slowdown in the pace of contraction as inflation pressures eased and firms grew more confident about the outlook, data showed on Thursday.
The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 48.3 in January after slumping to 45.4 in December, its lowest level since May 2020.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector. The PMI has been below that threshold since May, which is the longest such stretch in data going back to October 2010.
The latest data “provide hope that the downturn in the sector is bottoming out,” Paul Smith, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement. “Moreover, firms are looking to brighter times in the next 12 months.”
The future output index climbed to 61.9 from 59.7 in December, posting its highest level in six months, while price measures showed inflation pressures cooling.
The input price index fell to 53.3 from 54.1 in December and the output price index was at a seven-month low of 52.2, down from 52.7.
“Manufacturers and indeed policymakers will also be encouraged by the latest price indices, which continued their recent disinflationary paths in January,” Smith said.
The Bank of Canada has said that its focus is shifting to when to cut interest rates rather than whether to hike again.
On a more cautious note, the average lead times for the delivery of inputs lengthened for the fourth time in five months as firms reported shipping delays caused by the crisis in the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
The suppliers’ delivery times index fell to 48.8 from 50.9 in December.
Saudi Arabia is still considering an invitation to become a member of the BRICS bloc of countries after being asked to join by the group last year, a Saudi official source told Reuters.
The source commented after South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday the kingdom had joined the grouping.
“Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the invitation to join BRICS. It is still under consideration,” the Saudi official source said in a statement to Reuters.
The group in August invited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Argentina and Ethiopia to join from Jan. 1, although Argentina signalled it would not take up the invitation in November.
The expansion of the BRICS group, whose current members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, would give it additional economic heft and could also boost its declared ambition to become a champion of the Global South, helping reshuffle a world order it views as outdated.
Faisal Alibrahim, Saudi Arabia’s economy minister, earlier this month said the kingdom was still looking into the matter.
Riyadh is weighing its options against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions between the United States, China and Russia, and as the kingdom’s warming ties with Beijing have caused concern in Washington.
Fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member the UAE United Arab Emirates has said it had joined the bloc.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its fourth quarter.
The real estate investment trust, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, said it had funds from operations of $622 million, or 79 cents per share, in the period.
Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.
The company said it had a loss of $82 million, or 20 cents per share.
The operator of utility, transportation and energy assets, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, posted revenue of $4.97 billion in the period.
For the year, the company reported funds from operations of $2.29 billion. Revenue was reported as $17.93 billion.
The company’s shares have fallen slightly since the beginning of the year. The stock has declined 11% in the last 12 months.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BIP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BIP
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. reported $130.6 million in net income attributable to shareholders for its third-quarter as its revenue rose six per cent compared with a year ago.
The luxury parka maker says the profit amounted to $1.29 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with net income attributable to shareholders of $134.9 million or $1.28 per diluted share a year earlier when it had more shares outstanding.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $609.9 million, up from $576.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned $1.37 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.27 per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, the company says it expects revenue between $310 million and $330 million for its fourth quarter and an adjusted profit between two and 13 cents per diluted share.
For its full 2024 financial year, Canada Goose says it expects total revenue between $1.285 billion and $1.305 billion compared with its earlier guidance for between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. Adjusted net income per diluted share is now expected between 82 cents and 92 cents compared with earlier guidance for between 60 cents and $1.40.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2024.
Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T +1.43%increase saw its fourth-quarter profit decline by 35 per cent to $328-million, while its revenue rose 28 per cent to $5.34-billion.
The profit for the three-month period ended Dec. 31 amounted to 62 cents per share, down 38 per cent from $1.00 per share during the same quarter last year.
The Toronto-based telecom giant attributed the lower profit to higher depreciation and amortization on assets it acquired when it took over Shaw Communications Inc., higher financing costs and higher restructuring, acquisition and other costs, primarily due to the takeover and integration of Shaw.
After adjusting for some of those items, Rogers had $630-million of profit, up 14 per cent from a year ago.
The adjusted profit amounted to $1.19 per share, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.12 per share for adjusted earnings and revenue of $5.27-billion, according to the consensus estimate from S&P Capital IQ.
“Today, Alberta and B.C. are our fastest growing markets, and we’re gaining healthy market share,” Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri told analysts during a conference call Thursday. “We said we would increase competition in the west and we have.”
Rogers added 111,000 net new wireless customers during the quarter, down from 186,000 a year ago. On a net basis, the telecom added 184,000 postpaid wireless customers but lost 73,000 prepaid customers. (Postpaid customers are billed at the end of the month for the services they used, versus prepaid customers, who pay upfront for wireless services.)
Churn – the rate of customer turnover on a monthly basis – in the telecom’s postpaid subscriber base increased to 1.67 per cent, from 1.24 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2022.
During Thursday’s conference call, TD Securities analyst Vince Valentini called the churn figure the highest “we’ve seen in a long time.”
However, Mr. Staffieri said he is “not concerned about what we’re seeing on churn.”
“What we saw in the fourth quarter was a heightened level of what I would call promotional activity in the bottom end of the market … our focus was on the premium,” Mr. Staffieri said.
Wireless ARPU, or Average Revenue Per User, was $57.96, down 73 cents from a year ago when it came in at $58.69.
The company also issued its financial guidance for 2024, projecting that service revenue will grow between 8 to 10 per cent while adjusted EBITDA – Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization – is expected to increase between 12 to 15 per cent.
The company anticipates capital expenditures of $3.8-billion to $4-billion and free cash flow of $2.9-billion to $3.1-billion, up from $2.4-billion in 2023.
Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said Rogers is executing well on “merger related synergies” and that its wireless results “continue to show strong momentum supported by immigration growth.”
Mr. Yaghi wrote in a research note that he expects Rogers to continue exerting additional pressure on its competitors, “but not necessarily with lower prices; actually we have seen Rogers push price increases lately.”
Rather, the competitive pressure will come from “beefed up marketing, customer service improvements with AI and new potential product offerings like fixed wireless access to fill in areas where the company does not have a fixed line high speed internet solution,” Mr. Yaghi wrote.
Shares of Rogers rose $1.05, or 1.67 per cent, to $63.85 in Thursday morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
