Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Precision Drilling Corp. (PD-T; PDS-N) announced that its 2019 debt repayments totaled $205-million, exceeding its recently increased 2019 annual target of $200-million.
"To date in 2020, Precision has redeemed $32-million of its 2021 senior notes and reaffirms its 2020 targeted debt reduction range of $100-million to $150-million, which includes the remaining balance of the 2021 senior notes," the company stated.
Precision also provided an update on its capital expenditure plan, saying certain costs that were previously classified as operating expenses will now be classified as maintenance capital, due to a change in its estimate of rig componentization. "For 2020, this change is expected to decrease operating expenses and increase maintenance capital by an estimated $25-million with no impact on cash flow," the company stated.
As a result, its previously communicated 2020 capital expenditure plan of $60-million to $80-million is now expected to be $85-million to $105-million, the company said.
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Champion Iron Limited (CIA-T) announced late Monday a proposal to re‑domicile from Australia to Canada. “After considering the potential benefits and disadvantages of the re‑domiciliation, the board of directors has determined that a re‑domicile to Canada best serves the company’s interest,” it stated.
Some of the reasons cited include alignment with the location of the new listed parent company, Champion Canada, with its assets, operations and predominant shareholder base. The company also said it "will increase the attractiveness of Champion Canada to more diverse financial markets," among other benefits.
"Although our company has evolved into a successful mining operator headquartered in Canada, we maintain significant roots in Australia where many of our early investors reside," Champion Iron CEO David Cataford stated. "While today's announcement aligns our company's domicile with its operations, we look to build our already strong shareholder base in Australia with our active listings on the TSX and ASX, which will remain unaffected by this announcement."
Shareholders will vote on the at a meeting expected to be held in March, the company stated.
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HLS Therapeutics Inc. (HLS-T) announced that its Vascepa product was added to Health Canada’s Register of Innovative Drugs and, as a result, will benefit from data protection for eight years.
"We are pleased to announce this development and remain on track for a mid-February 2020 launch for Vascepa," HLS CEO Greg said in a release. "Having taken into consideration all aspects of the granted indication for Vascepa, we now believe that peak year sales for the product in Canada could reach CAD$200-300 million per year, up from our previous estimate of CAD$150-250 million per year."
On Dec. 31, Health Canada approved the use of Vascepa to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in statin-treated patients with elevated triglycerides, who are at high risk of cardiovascular events due to established cardiovascular disease, or diabetes, and at least one other cardiovascular risk factor, the company stated.
In addition to eight years of data protection, the company said Vascepa is “also the subject of numerous Canadian issued patents and pending patents with expiration dates which could extend to 2039.”
Canaccord Genuity analyst Tania Gonsalves increased her target price on the stock to $30.50 from $26.50 based on the news and reiterated her "buy" recommendation.
“Having now had a few days to analyze the broad wording of Vascepa’s Canadian label, management opted to increase its peak net sales estimate,” the analyst said in a note. “Not only does HLS believe the broad label will allow for superior market penetration, but it also now expects Vascepa sales to peak in 4-5 years. This compares to our forecast of reaching peak in 5.5 years.”
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Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. (HARV-C) announced it has filed a suit against Falcon International, Inc. “requesting termination and rescission of the merger agreement and return of money Harvest paid to Falcon under the merger agreement.”
The complaint was filed in U.S. Federal Court, District of Arizona. "Harvest alleges that Falcon has failed to meet its legal obligations in multiple ways, including the failure to provide auditable financial records, which precludes Harvest from moving forward with the transaction," the company stated in a release.
"While Harvest remains committed to the long-term potential of legal cannabis sales in California, current market conditions make it difficult to operate profitably there today," it stated. "If the transaction does not close for any reason, including those enumerated in the complaint, the company plans to remove the contribution attributable to Falcon from its 2020 pro forma guidance."
Harvest also said it expects overall 2020 "pro forma profitability: would improve without the revenue contribution from Falcon.