The Toronto Stock Exchange closed with a modest increase of 66.2 points today.
Start marking your calendars because the first earning season of 2024 is approaching. Canadian National Railway Company will release its 2023 year-end results after market close on January 23. The company trades at $168.24 and has approximately 645 million shares issued. Russel Metals Inc. will release its 2023 year-end results after market close on February 8. Russel trades at $44 and has approximately 60 million shares issued.
TMX Group Ltd., which owns and operates the major Canadian exchanges, handled $235.87-billion of transactions in December, 2023. This compares with the company handling $232.27-billlion in December, 2022. The TSX added two new issuers in December: Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (symbol: NBAM) and Rupert Resources Ltd. The TSX Venture added six new issuers in December. TMX trades at $31.50 and has approximately 276 million shares issued.
Hakken Capital Corp. has arranged a reverse takeover of Eshbal Functional Food (Cooperative) Ltd., an Israeli company that manufactures food products and dietary supplements. The company will issue 48 million shares to the selling members of Eshbal and the selling members will be eligible to receive 16 million performance shares, based on certain gross sales milestones. Upon closing the transaction, the resulting issuer’s board and management will include Yuval Levy, Tamir Dagan, David Bal-Meir, David Eto, Tomer Bar-Meir and Danit Kochva. The company will also complete a $4.5-million private placement in relation to the transaction. Hakken is currently halted.
Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc. has released more drill results from its Ishkoday project in Ontario. The company drilled 3.5 metres of 29.45 grams per tonne gold. This result includes 0.55 m of 186 g/t Au. Laurion trades at $0.52 per share and has approximately 263 million shares issued.
Happy Belly Food Group Inc. has agreed to acquire CraveIt Restaurant Group’s Via Cibo restaurant chain. The acquisition is an all-stock deal and it is expected to close later in Q1 2024. Happy Belly trades at $0.265 and has approximately 110 million shares issued.
Nevgold Corp. increased the size of its previously announced private placement. The company now plans to raise $2-million by issuing 6.25 million shares. The company will use the proceeds to explore its mining projects in Idaho. The company trades at $0.34 and has approximately 76 million shares issued.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow Florida to import drugs from Canada. Several other states have also applied for this request with the agency. This will, ideally, lower the cost of prescription drugs in the state. However, it is expected that the plan will face opposition from Canadian authorities. The decision allows Florida to import drugs for two years. Shipments will not start immediately.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Southwestern Energy and Chesapeake Energy are preparing to merge to create a $17-billion (U.S.) company, creating one of the largest natural-gas producers in the United States. The Journal reported that the deal could be formed as early as next week.
The Journal also reported that Synopsys is preparing to acquire Ansys for approximately $35-billion (U.S.) in stock and cash. Ansys is a software company that had booked revenue of approximately $2.1-billion (U.S.) in 2022.