Enbridge Inc. reported a profit of $1.73 billion in its fourth quarter compared with loss a year earlier when it took a large non-cash goodwill impairment charge.
The company says the profit amounted to 81 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31.
The result compared with a loss of $1.07 billion or 53 cents per share in the last three months of 2022 when the company took at $2.5-billion charge relate to its gas transmission business.
On an adjusted basis, Enbridge says it earned 64 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 63 cents per share a year earlier.
The company said last month it was cutting its workforce by 650 positions due to what it called “increasingly challenging business conditions.” Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel said while geopolitical instability, persistent inflation
Precision Drilling Corp. says it earned $146.7 million in its latest quarter, up from a profit of $3.5 million a year earlier, as its revenue edged lower.
The company says the profit amounted to $9.81 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 27 cents per diluted share in the last three months of 2022.
Revenue for the company’s fourth quarter totalled $506.9 million, down from $510.5 million a year earlier.
Precision Drilling says its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $151.2 million in its latest quarter, up from $91.1 million a year earlier.
The company’s drilling rig utilization days in Canada for the quarter were down 2.5 per cent compared with a year ago, while its U.S. operations saw a 24.5 per cent drop. International drilling rig utilization days were up 25.5 per cent compared with last year.
Precision Drilling says its service rig operating hours for the quarter were up 14.8 per cent from a year ago
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2024.
FirstService Corp. (FSV) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $6.3 million.
On a per-share basis, the Toronto-based company said it had net income of 14 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.11 per share.
The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.14 per share.
The property services provider posted revenue of $1.08 billion in the period, which beat Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.07 billion.
For the year, the company reported profit of $100.4 million, or $2.24 per share. Revenue was reported as $4.33 billion.
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TMX Group Ltd. reported a fourth-quarter profit attributable to equity holders of $84.4 million as its revenue rose nine per cent compared with a year earlier.
The operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange says the profit amounted to 31 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a profit of $102.2 million or 37 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $301.5 million, up from $275.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
TMX Group chief financial officer David Arnold says the revenue growth in the quarter was driven by increases across all of the company’s key business areas.
On an adjusted basis, TMX Group says it earned 37 cents per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of 35 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Last month, TMX Group announced that it had closed its deal to buy the stake in VettaFi Holdings LLC that it did not already own. U.S.-based VettaFi provides indexing, digital distribution and analytic services to the financial services industry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2024.
By Renju Jaya ✉ | Published: 2/5/2024 2:49 AM ET |
The Chinese service sector continued to expand in January, but the pace of expansion moderated on slowing new order growth, survey results from S&P Global showed on Monday.
The Caixin services Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, unexpectedly fell to 52.7 in January from a five-month high of 52.9 in the previous month. The score was seen at 53.0.
The index has remained in the expansionary territory for 13 straight months, indicating a sustained recovery in the services sector.
There was another sharp increase in the overall new business driven by firmer underlying demand conditions and new customers.
Export business also increased further but the pace of growth eased fractionally.
Employment advanced for the second straight month with firms linking the increase to efforts to expand capacity amid higher sales. That said, the rate of job creation remained marginal.
Backlogs of work increased in January as a sustained rise in new business placed greater pressure on operating capacities.
On the price front, the PMI survey showed that cost inflation increased only slightly in January. Meanwhile, prices charged by service providers declined for the first time since April 2022.
Business sentiment remained strong underpinned by upbeat growth projections, increased customer numbers and planned company expansion. However, the degree of optimism fell to a three-month low.
The overall private sector that combines performances of manufacturing and services also continued to expand in January.
Earlier, the official PMI survey data showed that the private sector expanded at a faster pace in January.
The manufacturing PMI registered 49.2, up from 49.0 in December. Likewise, the non-manufacturing PMI advanced to 50.7 from 50.4 in the previous month.
In January, the People’s Bank of China announced a reduction in the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points in order to instill confidence in the economic recovery.
The RRR cut took effect on February 5. The move is expected to inject around CNY 1 trillion of long-term liquidity.
The central bank reportedly conducted CNY 100 billion of 14-day reverse repo operations on Monday. The rate on reverse repo was 1.95 percent.
The upgrade reflected the carryover from stronger-than-expected growth in 2023 and the increased government spending on capacity building against natural disasters, the IMF said.
The Institute for Supply Management released a report on Monday showing U.S. service sector growth accelerated by more than expected in the month of January.
The ISM said its services PMI climbed to 53.4 in January from a downwardly revised 50.5 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to rise to 52.0 from the 50.6 originally reported for the previous month.
“The majority of respondents indicate that business is steady,” said Anthony Nieves, Chair of the ISM Services Business Survey Committee.
He added, “They are optimistic about the economy due to the potential impact of interest rate cuts; however, they are cautious due to inflation, associated cost pressures and ongoing geopolitical conflicts.”
The bigger than expected increase by the headline index was partly due to an acceleration in the pace of new orders growth, with the new orders index rising to 55.0 in January from 52.8 in December.
The report also showed a significant turnaround in employment in the service sector, as the employment index jumped to 50.5 in January from 43.8 in December.
Gold prices fell notably on Monday, extending losses for a second straight session as the dollar and bond yields rose amid much uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s monetary path this year.
Spot gold dipped 0.8 percent to $2,023.51 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.7 percent at 2,039.35.
The dollar hit a two-month high after U.S. data released on Friday showed much stronger than expected job growth in January and an improvement in consumer sentiment.
The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, much higher than expectations for an increase of about 180,000 jobs.
Job growth for December was revised higher and the jobless rate came in unchanged at 3.7 percent in January, prompting investors to scale back their expectations for interest-rate cuts this year.
U.S. Treasury yields also climbed after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made it clear during a “60 Minutes” interview aired on Sunday night that policymakers will wait to see continued progress toward cooler price increases before cutting interest rates.
The U.S. economic calendar for this week is relatively quiet, with traders likely to keep an eye on reports on weekly jobless claims, service sector activity and the U.S. trade deficit.
Oil traded slightly lower on Monday, following its biggest weekly drop since October. Brent crude futures dipped 0.3 percent to $77.12 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were down 0.4 percent at $72.03.
A stronger dollar kept prices under pressure as traders scaled back their expectations for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.
West Texas Intermediate contracts slumped more than 7 percent last week on the back of robust U.S. employment data, worries about China’s economic recovery and disappointment over OPEC+ group’s decision to leave its production policy unchanged.
Geopolitical tensions remained on investors’ radar after the U.S. and U.K. conducted strikes against Houthi targets over the weekend and the Iran-backed Houthis vowed to respond, saying the air strikes “will not deter us.”
The dollar hit a two-month high after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in an interview on Sunday that policymakers will likely wait beyond March to cut interest rates.
It is feared that higher interest rates to tackle inflation could result in a slowdown in economic activity and a drop in demand for oil.
