Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 30, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba B6 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS I STOCKS THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2025 CGI signs deal to buy U.K. firm BJSS MONTREAL — CGI Inc. reported a first-quarter profit of $438.6 million, up from $389.8 million a year ago, and an- nounced a deal to buy BJSS, a technol- ogy and engineering consultancy based in the United Kingdom. The business and technology consult- ing firm says BJSS has more than 2,400 consultants and professionals. Finan- cial terms of the deal were not immedi- ately available. The deal came as CGI reported its profit amounted to $1.92 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $1.67 per diluted share a year ear- lier. Revenue for the quarter totalled $3.8 billion, up from $3.6 billion a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, CGI says it earned $1.97 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.83 per diluted share a year earlier. Bookings for the quarter totalled $4.2 billion, while the backlog stood at $29.8 billion at the end of the quarter. — The Canadian Press HPE, Juniper met with Trump DOJ on fate of US$14B deal HEWLETT Packard Enterprise Co. representatives met with U.S. Presi- dent Donald Trump’s antitrust enfor- cers Tuesday over its US$14 billion bid to buy Juniper Networks Inc., accord- ing to people familiar with the matter. HPE and Juniper representatives dis- cussed the U.S. Justice Department’s concerns about the deal with Omeed Assefi, the official temporarily oversee- ing antitrust enforcement at the agency, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential talks. The wireless networking equipment makers previously met with top Biden administration antitrust officials, who raised concerns about the deal, Bloomberg reported. The Justice De- partment has prepared a complaint and is ready to challenge the tie-up if the companies seek to close the deal this week, the people said. A final decision on whether to file a lawsuit will be up to senior officials ap- pointed by the Trump administration, which has reversed course on some de- cisions by its predecessors in the Biden Justice Department. Shares of Juniper Networks closed down more than three per cent Wed- nesday in New York. HPE was up about one per cent. HPE, Juniper and the Justice Depart- ment declined to comment. The Justice Department is concerned about a possible loss of competition with Cisco Systems Inc., the market leader in the sector, according to the people. While several smaller companies also compete in the market, Justice Depart- ment enforcers consider HPE and Juni- per to be two of the primary drivers of innovation in the market, and believe Cisco will lose significant competition if they combine, the people said. Under an agreement with the Justice Department, the companies agreed to not close the deal until later this week, the people said. The deadline can be ex- tended by HPE and Juniper. Both the U.K. and the EU have al- ready cleared the deal. The Justice Department launched an in-depth probe of the tie-up last year. — Bloomberg News BMO, Mastercard, Porter announce new credit card TORONTO — BMO, Porter Airlines and Mastercard are launching a new credit card option for travellers looking to earn points for the airline’s reward program VIPorter. They say the new BMO VIPorter Mastercard credit card suite will help travellers earn VIPorter points through everyday purchases. The new card is expected to be available this spring. Porter president Kevin Jackson says the launch is the first of many changes that will create value and recognition for VIPorter members. The companies say the new card will allow VIPorter members to earn points for redemption across Porter’s net- work, as well as introduce the redemp- tion of points on Porter’s growing list of airline partners. — The Canadian Press Frontier makes second bid for Spirit as U.S. budget airlines struggle N EW YORK — No-frills, budget airlines often lead the industry in customer complaints, accord- ing to U.S. government data, so if one were to disappear would it be missed by travellers? That is a question U.S. regulators will be asking after Frontier Airlines said Wednesday it wanted to buy Spirit Air- lines, which sought bankruptcy protec- tion late last year. Spirit said almost immediately it’s not interested in the sale. An attempted mer- ger between the two came to nothing in 2022. Yet, Frontier has not indicated it is ready to take ‘no’ for an answer. Other discount airlines are on much better financial footing than Spirit, but they, too, are lagging far behind the full-service airlines when it comes to re- covering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Most industry experts think Frontier Airlines and other so-called ultra-low- cost carriers will fill the vacuum and that there is still plenty of competition to prevent prices from spiking. And the most profitable U.S. airlines have begun winning over a larger share of travellers scouring for deals with new ticket offerings. Frontier Group Holdings Inc., the parent company of Frontier Airlines, said Wednesday the proposed deal would include newly issued Frontier debt and common stock. Frontier tried to merge with Spirit in 2022 but was outbid by JetBlue. How- ever, the Justice Department sued to block the US$3.8 billion JetBlue deal, saying it would drive up prices for Spir- it customers who depend on low fares, and a federal judge agreed in January. JetBlue and Spirit dropped their mer- ger bid two months later. Spirit filed for bankruptcy protection in November. The biggest U.S. budget airline, Spirit filed a Chapter 11 bank- ruptcy petition after working out terms with bondholders. The airline has lost more than US$2.5 billion since the start of 2020 and faces looming debt pay- ments totalling more than US$1 billion in 2025 and 2026. The biggest U.S. airlines have snagged some of Spirit’s budget-con- scious customers by offering their own brand of bare-bones tickets. And fares for U.S. leisure travel — Spirit’s core business — sagged last summer be- cause of a glut of new flights. Frontier is optimistic it can get a deal done this time around. “This proposal reflects a compelling opportunity that will result in more value than Spirit’s standalone plan by creating a stronger low-fare airline with the long-term viability to compete more effectively and enter new mar- kets at scale,” Frontier chairman Bill Franke said in a statement. “We stand ready to continue discus- sions with Spirit and its financial stake- holders and believe that we can prompt- ly reach agreement on a transaction.” In a regulatory filing, Spirit said it had received a proposal from Frontier earlier this month and after reviewing it, found the offer would be less benefi- cial to its shareholders than its existing plan. It said barring any new developments, it would move forward with its own plans to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. — The Associated Press MICHELLE CHAPMAN DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES A pair of Frontier Airlines jetliners pass each other on a runway at Denver International Airport. Agnico Eagle Mines L 129.98 0.48 608 131.75 60.17 Alamos Gold Inc. 29.60 0.12 333 29.98 15.27 AltaGas Ltd. 33.80 0.15 464 35.77 26.91 ARC Resources Ltd. 25.36 0.13 1,182 28.15 19.58 AtkinsRéalis Group 75.04 -1.48 404 83.94 42.60 Bank of Montreal 145.62 1.02 4,540 147.54 109.02 Bank of Nova Scotia 74.91 0.87 2,271 80.14 60.68 Barrick Gold Corpora 23.02 0.04 2,043 29.50 18.65 BCE Inc. 34.21 -0.20 1,919 55.18 31.43 BMO S&P 500 Index ET 95.25 -0.23 565 96.12 71.15 BMO S&P/TSX Capped C 34.07 0.04 90 34.67 27.43 Brookfield Infrastru 46.77 -0.22 460 50.46 34.36 Brookfield Renewable 29.75 -0.09 267 40.84 27.55 CAE Inc. 34.98 -0.02 477 36.68 22.28 Cameco Corporation 72.25 2.28 1,560 88.18 48.71 Canadian Imperial Ba 92.70 -0.20 1,984 95.50 59.53 Canadian National Ra 152.23 0.84 594 181.34 143.18 Canadian Natural Res 44.26 0.48 4,352 56.50 40.02 Canadian Pacific Kan 113.64 -0.38 1,260 123.37 101.76 Canadian Tire Corpor 234.44 0.00 0 275.36 192.10 Canadian Tire Corpor 164.82 -2.59 174 169.27 126.25 Canadian Utilities L 33.32 -0.46 357 37.10 29.15 CCL Industries Inc. 73.30 -0.04 244 84.70 55.34 CCL Industries Inc. 73.28 0.00 0 83.99 57.38 Cenovus Energy Inc. 21.58 0.58 3,739 29.96 20.42 CGI Inc. Class A Sub 165.57 0.80 536 168.85 132.06 Colliers Internation 203.03 -3.99 39 218.47 138.13 Constellation Softwa 4725.00 8.18 25 4879.19 3535.00 Descartes Systems Gr 167.12 -2.29 147 174.24 113.65 Dollarama Inc. 140.51 -0.59 412 152.97 97.80 Element Fleet Manage 28.87 -0.19 304 30.49 21.20 Emera Incorporated 54.53 -0.47 1,092 56.20 44.13 Empire Company Limit 42.97 0.18 198 46.77 31.45 Enbridge Inc. 63.86 -0.19 4,787 65.62 45.05 Fairfax Financial Ho 1965.74 -10.73 36 2071.49 1213.01 Fairfax Financial Ho 1371.18 0.00 0 1397.29 893.44 First Quantum Minera 18.14 0.54 1,684 21.45 10.91 FirstService Corpora 264.08 -3.35 51 278.19 193.77 Fortis Inc. 60.98 -0.50 1,602 63.75 51.02 Franco-Nevada Corpor 189.13 0.99 204 191.17 140.67 Galaxy Digital Holdi 29.09 1.22 1,013 34.98 9.14 George Weston Limite 223.14 1.60 94 239.79 166.78 Gildan Activewear In 74.56 0.02 242 75.33 44.07 Great-West Lifeco In 46.85 0.07 926 50.99 38.44 Hydro One Limited 44.60 -0.35 527 48.05 37.27 IGM Financial Inc. 46.49 0.29 181 47.96 32.95 Imperial Oil Limited 101.36 0.07 606 108.89 75.53 Intact Financial Cor 255.08 0.00 228 275.84 206.57 iShares Core MSCI EA 39.59 0.05 97 39.72 34.84 iShares Core S&P 500 62.54 -0.30 285 63.70 50.73 iShares Core S&P/TSX 40.65 0.07 124 41.31 32.65 iShares S&P/TSX 60 I 38.94 0.09 2,072 39.07 31.33 Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. 15.86 0.38 1,637 21.32 13.79 Keyera Corp. 41.51 0.30 706 47.90 31.16 Kinross Gold Corpora 16.05 0.40 3,135 16.32 6.46 Loblaw Companies Lim 184.93 0.44 204 196.49 132.55 Lundin Gold Inc. 34.39 -0.27 192 36.16 14.23 Lundin Mining Corpor 11.80 0.10 1,965 17.97 10.56 Magna International 59.16 0.00 960 79.98 51.79 Manulife Financial C 43.82 0.36 3,877 46.42 28.95 Metro Inc. 91.63 3.07 402 94.86 68.12 Molson Coors Canada 86.11 0.00 0 97.01 63.46 Molson Coors Canada 79.34 -0.88 0 93.06 65.04 National Bank of Can 129.50 0.04 1,363 141.15 100.47 Newmont Corporation 59.98 0.45 143 81.16 39.96 ONEX Corporation Sub 112.23 -0.55 60 118.91 85.36 Open Text Corporatio 42.17 -0.26 589 60.00 37.92 Ovintiv Inc. 63.71 0.59 102 76.63 49.74 Pan American Silver 32.60 1.08 507 36.00 16.50 Pembina Pipeline Cor 52.85 0.43 1,151 60.72 44.56 Power Corporation of 43.92 0.29 955 47.89 35.83 RB Global Inc. 130.33 0.19 133 139.48 83.48 Restaurant Brands In 90.00 0.00 0 109.74 87.11 Restaurant Brands In 89.41 -0.43 238 112.12 86.06 Rogers Communication 47.60 1.75 1 64.28 44.00 Rogers Communication 41.46 -0.41 1,416 64.55 39.65 Royal Bank of Canada 176.03 -1.00 8,979 180.45 127.60 Saputo Inc. 23.95 0.30 780 32.15 22.59 Shopify Inc. Class A 168.46 -0.74 1,564 171.84 72.36 Sprott Physical Gold 30.72 -0.03 121 30.86 20.78 Sprott Physical Gold 21.31 -0.06 3 22.68 15.36 Stantec Inc. 114.27 1.15 196 123.92 103.48 Sun Life Financial I 84.50 0.30 1,090 88.54 64.38 Suncor Energy Inc. 55.68 0.61 4,298 58.58 42.43 TC Energy Corporatio 65.47 0.20 1,633 70.32 48.12 Teck Resources Limit 59.48 0.73 0 74.15 49.62 Teck Resources Limit 59.33 0.51 1,399 74.37 49.45 TELUS Corporation 20.83 -0.31 3,399 24.62 19.10 TFI International In 199.24 0.56 137 220.93 173.25 Thomson Reuters Corp 240.80 1.63 226 243.42 199.00 TMX Group Limited 45.38 -0.16 164 46.31 33.19 Toromont Industries 120.69 -0.14 86 135.53 109.83 Toronto-Dominion Ban 82.85 0.31 2,306 87.99 73.22 Tourmaline Oil Corp. 67.48 0.87 555 70.65 53.45 Vanguard S&P 500 Ind 154.50 -0.44 333 155.96 115.49 Vanguard U.S. Total 116.93 -0.32 78 117.93 87.53 Waste Connections In 261.11 -2.26 264 273.51 206.91 West Fraser Timber C 126.36 0.23 77 141.27 100.84 Wheaton Precious Met 87.19 0.26 557 94.84 52.15 WSP Global Inc. 253.30 -0.77 155 262.00 195.14 VOLUME 52-WK 52-WK STOCK CLOSE CHG (000S) HIGH LOW (by market capitalization) TSX Top 100 MARK E T WAT CH Daily Mutual Movers Biggest gainers and losers base on percentage change in daily net asset value per share. Data supplied by Fundata. All Funds COMPANY CLOSE CHG Ninepoint Res Fd Cl A 6.25 2.61 Portland Replace FF Alt A 15.44 2.40 Dyn Strat Resourc Cl A 15.21 2.07 Scot Resource Fund A 39.01 2.01 Ninepoint Silver Equ Fd A 7.39 1.94 Dyn Precious Metals Fd A 17.46 1.79 Fid Adv Ether ETF Fd B 23.37 1.74 NPT Silver Bullion A 8.76 1.60 Ninepoint Resource Fund A 6.24 1.59 RBC Cdn S & M-Cp Res Fd A 11.19 1.58 SL Aditya Birla Ind FdA 22.30 1.56 RBCI Indi Eq Fd Inv 19.11 1.55 BMO Clean Energy ETF A 5.83 1.54 Canadian Equity COMPANY CLOSE CHG DFA Cdn Vector Equ Fd A 15.91 0.45 DFA Cdn Core Equity Fd A 29.76 0.40 Counsel MultFact Cdn Eq P 13.88 0.32 InvFTSE RAFI CdnIdx ETFA 17.88 0.30 Sionna CdnEqFd A 22.58 0.29 CL Cdn FdmntlEquA 15.39 0.27 BMO Cdn Equity Fd A 46.53 0.26 CSL Canadian Value A 20.47 0.26 SEI Cdn Equity Fd O 25.01 0.25 Fid Cdn Opport Fd B 36.78 0.24 TD Cdn Equity Pool W 16.83 0.24 Fid Con Cdn Equ Pvt Pl B 30.16 0.23 Fid Cdn Equity Priv Pl B 28.13 0.23 Canadian Fixed Income COMPANY CLOSE CHG TD Cdn Core + Bond Fd Inv 10.67 0.19 Fid Prem Fix Inc PP B 10.50 0.15 Fid Cdn Bond Fd B 13.30 0.15 Desj Cdn Bond Fd A 5.24 0.13 Fid Tac Fix Inc Fd B 7.28 0.13 Fid Pre Tac Fix Inc PP B 7.30 0.13 Invsc Cdn Core +Bond Fd A 5.38 0.13 RBCI Cdn S/M Bd Fd F 10.05 0.13 Rus Inv Cdn Fix Inc Fd O 110.22 0.12 RBC Cdn Govt Bond Idx DZ 10.94 0.12 SunL MFS Cdn Bond Fd D 12.97 0.12 SEI Cdn Fixed Income Fd O 10.67 0.12 DesjSus Cdn Bd Fd A 9.07 0.12 Global Equity COMPANY CLOSE CHG Canadian Dollar 44,713.52 19,632.32 DOW NASDAQ S&P 500 S&P/TSX -136.83 -101.26 -28.39 +53.85 25,473.306,039.31 +0.05 -1.10-1.15 OIL GAS GOLD SILVER US$72.62 US$3.17 US$2,793.50 US$31.39 +0.51 DOLLAR 69.28¢ -0.19 24,900 25,400 24,400 25,900 23,900 DAILY CLOSE, PAST 30 DAYS I December January Manitoba Stocks Ag Growth Int’l Inc. 38.45 0.45 62,552 Artis Real Estate Investment Trust 7.58 0.08 226,814 BCE Inc. 34.21 -0.2 1,918,981 Bird River Resources Inc. 0.04 0 75,000 Boyd Group Services Inc. 236.95 0.06 34,908 Buhler Industries Inc. 3.44 -0.01 100 Exchange Income Corp. 56.44 0.27 83,788 FP Newspapers Inc. 0.48 0 - Gossan Resources Ltd. 0.02 0 - Great West Lifeco Inc. 46.85 0.07 926,232 Hudbay Minerals Inc. 11.92 0.39 974,397 IGM Financial Inc. 46.49 0.29 180,698 Kane Biotech Inc. 0.10 -0.005 33,500 Medicure Inc. 0.82 0 - NFI Group Inc. 12.11 0.04 754,937 North West Co. Inc. New 47.30 -0.22 77,142 Pollard Banknote Ltd. 28.80 -0.59 5,825 Winpak Ltd. 44.26 -0.19 54,474 Marwest Apartment REIT 0.68 0 0 COMPANY CLSE CHG VOL COMPANY CLSE CHG VOL Futures Trading — Grain quotes CANOLA COMPANY OPEN HIGH LOW CLOSE YESTERDAY Mar ‘25 637.50 639.30 633.50 636.60 639.70 May 647.50 648.00 642.70 645.60 648.80 Jul 652.70 653.20 647.90 651.30 653.60 Nov 637.90 641.60 635.60 639.60 638.80 Jan ‘26 642.70 645.00 641.10 644.30 643.80 Mar 641.90 645.00 641.60 645.00 644.50 May - 644.60 - 644.60 644.00 Jul - 642.10 - 642.10 641.40 Nov - 642.70 - 642.70 643.60 Jan ‘27 - 640.10 - 640.10 641.40 Mar - 640.10 - 640.10 641.40 SOURCES: THE BANK OF CANADA, FUNDATA, ICE FUTURES CANADA, CME GROUP S&P/TSX Composite Index Foreign Exchange Rates These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Wednesday. Quotations in Canadian funds. Australian dollar 0.8987 Brazilian real 0.246 Chinese renminbi 0.1991 European euro 1.5027 Hong Kong dollar 0.1853 Indian rupee 0.01667 Indonesian rupiah 0.000089 Japanese yen 0.0093 Mexican peso 0.07024 New Zealand dollar 0.8155 Norwegian krone 0.1276 Peruvian new sol 0.3876 Russian ruble 0.01456 Saudi riyal 0.3849 Singapore dollar 1.0686 South African rand 0.07759 South Korean won 0.001 Swedish krona 0.1311 Swiss franc 1.5911 Taiwanese dollar 0.04393 Turkish lira 0.0403 UK pound sterling 1.7942 US dollar 1.4435 A U.S. dollar cost $1.4435 based on daily average IAC Gbl Equity Fd A 21.49 0.75 BMO ARK Nxt Gen Int FdA 24.44 0.68 Mac Cdl Value Fund AG 44.82 0.63 Mac Cundill Val Fd II A 23.37 0.63 Barometer Glo Equ Cl A 21.75 0.57 SEI Gbl Mgd Volat Fd O 22.75 0.53 Fidelity Cl Lead Fd A 13.07 0.46 NCM Core Global A 55.03 0.46 Mack CpKnGl100IndFdA 10.44 0.46 En Equity Fd A 24.54 0.42 Mac GblWomen’sLdr A 15.48 0.41 Chou Associates Fund A 195.71 0.38 Fid Global Fund Ser B 94.90 0.38 These companies will have headquarters or major operations in Manitoba. Closing values are as of the end of trading. Provided by Wellington-Altus Private Wealth. ;