Here are five things you need to know this morning
Earnings beat at BMO and BNS: Two of Canada’s big banks are out with quarterly numbers this morning, and both bested expectations on most metrics even as they set aside more than $1 billion in potentially bad loans. Bank of Montreal announced premarket that it earned $3.04 per share on an adjusted basis in the first quarter. That’s well ahead of the $2.42 the street was expecting. Provisions for credit losses came in slightly lower than expected at just over $1 billion. The bank’s credit performance has hurt results for the past year, so provisions coming in with a pleasant surprise augurs well for the future. Over at Scotiabank, the bank posted $1.76 per share on an adjusted basis, better than the $1.65 analysts were looking for. But Scotia’s loan losses disappointed, coming in at $1.16 billion instead of the $1.09 billion analysts were hoping for. We’ll have plenty of commentary on both banks throughout the day today, along with lookaheads to numbers from the other big banks expected through the rest of the week.
TFI slams the breaks on U.S. HQ plan: That slow, repetitive beeping sound you’re hearing is TFI International reversing out of a jam like one of their own 18-wheelers. The Quebec-based and TSX-listed trucking and logistics company stunned investors last week when it announced it was planning to move the company’s headquarters to the United States, citing the fact that 70 per cent of its business was already there. But shareholders, including a major one in the Caisse, didn’t like the plan and made their thoughts clear. So TFI slammed the brakes on the idea this morning, telling analysts they have no plans to change where their company is domiciled. Score this one a win for Canada in the ongoing trade war with the U.S.
Caisse offers to buy Innergex for 58% premium: Speaking of the Caisse, the Quebec pension plan announced this morning that it has entered an agreement to buy Innergex Renewable for $13.75 a share. That’s a 58 per cent premium to where the stock closed yesterday and 80 per cent above its average value for the past 30 days. Innergex is a renewable energy company and Hydro Quebec is its biggest shareholder with 19.9 per cent of the float. Hydro Quebec supports the deal, as does the Innergex board. The price tag puts the total value of the company at $10 billion.
Dye & Durham gets offer to go private: A major shareholder in TSX-listed Dye & Durham Co. has offered to take the company private for a 70 per cent premium, Bloomberg is reporting. The news agency says Plantro is willing to offer $20 a share for Dye and Durham, which would value the company at $1.3 billion. After going public in the early days of the pandemic, Dye & Durham shares rocketed higher, trading above $50 for most of 2021 and into 2022. But the company has fallen on tough times ever since, and Plantro says it would do better as a private company. Dye & Durham shares were changing hands just above $13 per share late in the trading day yesterday, before spiking to just shy of $17 heading into the close for their best day since 2020. The company has acknowledged the “unsolicited, non-binding, conditional offer” but notes that it is “lacking in any material detail as to its financing” and says it is not currently in talks about the offer.
Trump wants Keystone XL pipeline built: U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he wants to revive the Keystone XL pipeline, even though the Canadian company behind the project has already walked away from it. The project would have expanded the existing pipeline bringing Canadian crude from Hardisty, Alberta to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and was first proposed by TransCanada (now known as TC Energy) well over a decade ago during the Obama administration. The company walked away from the project under Biden after he failed to reverse an Obama decision to block it. TC Energy spun out its pipeline business into a standalone subsidiary called South Bow last year, which runs the existing pipeline. South Bow has indicated it is not interested in trying to revive the project.
