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A man exits a Hudson's Bay department store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 6, 2016.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters

Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.

Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Co (HBC-T) named former J.C. Penney Co Inc executive Edward Record as its chief financial officer, effective Aug 28.

Hudson's Bay and other large retailers are struggling to reinvent themselves amid an industrywide upheaval, blamed in part on changing shopping trends that have seen shoppers migrate online.

Last month, U.S. activist investor Jonathan Litt ratcheted up pressure on Hudson's Bay by threatening it would consider a push to remove some directors at the company unless drastic steps were taken to make more money off its assets.

Litt – who also controls Land and Buildings – had asked HBC to consider going private and pushed for the company to sell its Saks Fifth Avenue brand, considering it more as a real estate investment, rather than just a department store.

Record, who had been J.C. Penney's CFO for more than three years, succeeds Paul Beesley. The company had said in May Beesley would resign.

During his tenure, Record helped improve Penney's capital structure, reduce its debt leverage and improve its credit rating, Hudson's Bay said.

- Reuters

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InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust (IIP.UN-T) says it has purchased one-third of a 3.6-acre site in Ottawa for $14.2-million for a "transformational development" in a joint venture with Trinity Developments and PBC Real Estate Advisors Inc.

"This new development will be one of the first true multi-use developments in the country on a mass transit line," the company said.

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Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) says it has completed the final tranche of a previously announced arrangement to sell certain commercial mortgage assets.

To date, Home Capital says it has received a total of about $1.2-billion on the sale and discharges of commercial mortgages in connection with its initiatives to increase liquidity.

As of Aug. 16, it's total aggregate available liquidity and credit capacity stood at approximately $4.22-billion including an undrawn amount of $2-billion under its credit facility agreement with Berkshire Hathaway.

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VersaPay Corp. (VPY-T) reported second quarter revenue of $630,000, up 77 per cent from $360,000 a year earlier.

The company said its total comprehensive loss for the three months ended June 30 was 1.95-million, compared to a loss of $1.61-million a year ago.

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Absolute Software Corp. (ABT-T) reported revenue of $23.2-million in the fourth quarter, which was in line with expectations and up 5 per cent from a year ago.

Its net loss was $2.1-million or 5 cents per share compared to a loss of $1.2-million or 3 cents a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a loss of a penny per share.

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GreenSpace Brands Inc. (JTR-T) says it's buying The Cold Press Corp., which owns the Cedar brand of premium juices.

It said the price is $5.3-million to $6.4-million including cash and shares and an earn-out that can be up to $1-million based on Cedar's net revenue in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2018. 

"This acquisition highlights our strategy and ability to add innovative brands to our platform that can then have their growth amplified through synergistic opportunities within our current team," said GreenSpace CEO Matthew von Teichman.

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