Very surprising to see them slash the dividend on the ex divvy day. glad i didnt bite. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Arial; color: #666666; min-height: 14.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Verdana} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Verdana; min-height: 16.0px} span.s1 {letter-spacing: 0.0px} Aimia suspends payment of all dividends 2017-06-14 05:10 MT - News Release Mr. Robert Brown reports AIMIA PROVIDES UPDATE ON DIVIDENDS Aimia Inc.'s board of directors has suspended payment of all dividends on both its outstanding common shares and its Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3 cumulative rate reset preferred shares effective immediately. This includes the previously declared dividends originally scheduled to have been paid on June 30, 2017, to shareholders of record as of June 16, 2017. Under paragraph 42 of the Canada Business Corporations Act ("CBCA"), the Company's governing corporate statute, there are two legal tests that must be met before any dividend can be paid. The Company has concluded that it satisfies the solvency test set forth at paragraph 42(a) of the CBCA. However, due to a number of factors, the Company believes that the capital impairment test set forth in paragraph 42(b) of the CBCA would not be satisfied on June 30, 2017. These factors include the recent significant decline in the Company's market capitalization following the May 11, 2017, non-renewal announcement by Air Canada and the high amount of the stated capital account (currently about $1.5 billion for common shares and Preferred shares on a combined basis), primarily resulting from past common share issuances at significantly higher prices than the current market. In the event the Company is able to pay the previously declared dividends referred to above at a future date, the record date for shareholders entitled to such payment remains June 16, 2017. Dividends on the outstanding Preferred Shares are cumulative and will continue to accrue in accordance with the rights, privileges, restrictions and conditions attaching to each series of Preferred Shares. "The Company currently has the requisite liquidity to pay these dividends, however the statutory capital impairment test legally prohibits us from doing so. Our business continues to perform well and generate strong free cash flow. We reported $331.7 million of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments and $225.5 million of long-term investments in corporate and government bonds as at March 31, 2017," said Robert E. Brown, Executive Chairman, Aimia. "The Company has been in active discussions with various parties with a view to securing new long-term commercial and strategic relationships post-2020. We believe we have a unique set of assets that are highly valuable and compelling," said David Johnston, Aimia's Group Chief Executive. "At the same time, the Company is also making progress on its plan to remove a further $70 million of costs from the Company through its business review and we will provide further updates as developments warrant." About Aimia Aimia Inc. (TSX:AIM) is a data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company. We provide our clients with the customer insights they need to make smarter business decisions and build relevant, rewarding and long-term one-to-one relationships, evolving the value exchange to the mutual benefit of both our clients and consumers. With about 2,300 employees across 15 countries, Aimia partners with groups of companies (coalitions) and individual companies to help generate, collect and analyze customer data and build actionable insights.
After the freakout by investors due to the suspension of the dividend, and the resulting shareprice decline to 1.45 range.... it appears the stock ready for a rebound. Closed near the high yesterday at 1.64.... I do believe if the stock regains the 2.50 range the suspended dividend may be paid. The preferred shares will continue to get their dividend , but the commons may not see another until much higher share price and the announcement of another airline taking over from AC, in the aeroplan business after 2020.
That's pretty bad for those investors who wasn't able to predict that! Hoping they can bounce back really hard!
I took a chance and bought a small position around 1.60 average. Sold some above 1.70 and hoping to rebuy around 1.60 again. After going over the books, retailers and parts and pieces of the company outside of agreements with Air Canada , which are in place until 2020, i am quite confident this stock makes a move back to the 3 $ level on any positive developments from the company. Appears oversold imo. The suspension of the dividend will allow the company to pay down debts and make a big improvement on the balance sheet. AIMIA was held by many etf and dividend trusts and funds and i would suspect most of those exitted their positions. More speculative funds likely buying in near the low here. Of note Pershing and Ray James have been big buyers. (TSE:AIM) Stock analysts at National Bank Financial cut their FY2017 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Aimia in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.88 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $0.90. National Bank Financial has a Underperform Market Weight rating on the stock. Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. CIBC decreased their target price on shares of Aimia from C$8.00 to C$3.25 in a report on Friday, May 12th. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Aimia from C$3.75 to C$2.50 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 15th. Raymond James Financial, Inc. decreased their target price on shares of Aimia from C$7.00 to C$6.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. GMP Securities lowered shares of Aimia from a buy rating to a reduce rating and decreased their target price for the company from C$10.50 to C$4.00 in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Aimia from C$9.50 to C$4.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Aimia currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of C$4.97. Shares of Aimia (TSE:AIM) opened at 1.78 on Friday. The stocks market capitalization is $271.08 million. Aimia has a 52-week low of $1.42 and a 52-week high of $9.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3.69 and a 200-day moving average of $7.54.
grabbed some preferred shares today, as a senior analyst i have chatted with says those are cumulative even tho suspended at this time. once the company proves they are profitable and have a sustainable business without Air Canada all those cumulative dividends will be paid. Add to that the capital gains... likely at least double from here.
Well took some profits today on the commons and sold my preferreds. Will revisit this if it pulls back, but will keep a few for kickers. Lovely bounce off the bottom with the Q financial report showing the company doing much better than most analysts had predicted. Oversold on the Air Canada situation.
It appears i unloaded the preferreds a bit prematurely, altho the commons now looking attractive again with this slight pullback. Will have bids in lower to buy back the commons in this range.
Well on the bid now for commons at 1.70 ..... will be a nice pullback if we can get it to come down that far. Not looking at preferreds just yet.... but might delve back into those in a month or so. Altho i think the Q ex-dividend date is around mid september ( preferred shares will accumulate the dividend and be owed , regardless of the dividend suspension by Aimia). One to look at , still looks oversold to me.
Diversified Royalty buys Air Miles program from Aimia 2017-08-25 15:10 MT - News Release See News Release (C-DIV) Diversified Royalty Corp Mr. Sean Morrison of Diversified Royalty reports DIVERSIFIED ROYALTY CORP. ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF AIR MILESA TRADEMARKS AND ROYALTY Diversified Royalty Corp. has acquired the Canadian Air Miles trademarks and certain related Canadian intellectual property rights (collectively, the Air Miles program) from a subsidiary of Aimia Inc. for $53.75-million plus additional contingent consideration of up to $13.75-million. Diversified Royalty will receive a total royalty, payable quarterly, equal to 1 per cent of gross billings from the Air Miles program in Canada in accordance with the terms of two licence agreements acquired by Diversified Royalty as part of the acquisition. Launched in Canada in 1992, Air Miles is Canada's largest coalition loyalty program, with over 170 brand name sponsors including Bank of Montreal, Sobey's, Shell Canada, Safeway and Metro and on-line partners such as Amazon's Canadian website and eBay. Consumers collect Air Miles reward miles from sponsors, which can be redeemed for a multitude of reward choices, such as travel, entertainment, home electronics and gift cards. Based on public disclosure, there are currently more than 11 million active Air Miles collector accounts across Canada and approximately two-thirds of Canadian households participate in the Air Miles reward program. The Air Miles reward program is operated in Canada by LoyaltyOne Co., the parent company of which is Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS), a New York Stock Exchange-listed company. ADS reported consolidated revenues of $7.1-billion (U.S.) in 2016 and revenues from Canada of $936-million (U.S.) and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $203-million (U.S.), which is primarily from the Canadian loyalty program. Sean Morrison, president and chief executive officer of Diversified Royalty, stated: "The acquisition of the Air Miles trademarks and royalty is another step in our strategy of purchasing trademarks and royalties from a diverse group of high-quality businesses. The Air Miles reward program has been operating in Canada for 25 years, is one of the most recognizable brands in Canada, has many of Canada's largest businesses as members and has a proven business model. The Air Miles trademarks have historically generated royalty revenue of approximately $8.50-million per year. Pro forma for the transaction and assuming the Air Miles royalty of $8.50-million, DIV's distributable cash per share (DCPS) is 20.71 cents per share. The Air Miles transaction was structured with contingent consideration subject to certain milestones being achieved in 2018/2019. DIV's objective is to use its remaining $33-million of cash on hand combined with debt financing to fund its next trademark and royalty acquisition from a high-quality business by the end of 2017." Lorie Haber, chairman of Diversified Royalty, stated: "The Air Miles transaction is a testament to management's approach of being patient and disciplined. Management structured an accretive transaction with contingent consideration providing DIV shareholders with downside protection. Air Miles is among Canada's most recognizable trademarks with a 25-year track record and is an excellent addition to DIV's royalty pools." Diversified Royalty's board of directors currently plan to maintain Diversified Royalty's annual dividend at 22.25 cents per share. Further details of the acquisition The acquisition was completed pursuant to an asset purchase agreement dated as of the date hereof between Diversified Royalty, Diversified Royalty's newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary, AM Royalties Limited Partnership, Aimia and Aimia's indirect subsidiary Air Miles International Trading BV (the seller). Pursuant to the asset purchase agreement, the partnership paid the seller $53.75-million in cash at closing of the acquisition. Diversified Royalty financed the closing payment with cash on hand; however, Diversified Royalty is in the final stages of negotiations with a Canadian chartered bank in respect of a new senior credit facility through which the partnership expects to be provided with approximately $17.4-million in new term debt financing. The credit facility is expected to have a term of 60 months, be non-amortizing and have a floating interest rate equal to the bankers' acceptance rate plus 2.25 per cent. The credit facility will be secured by the Air Miles program and the royalties payable by LoyaltyOne under the licences and will have debt covenants customary for this type of credit facility. In accordance with the terms of the asset purchase agreement, the payment of the contingent consideration is subject to certain milestones being met in 2018/2019. The milestones relate to Bank of Montreal's Air Miles sponsorship contract being renewed or replaced with an Air Miles sponsorship contract with another one of the four other major Canadian chartered banks and the royalty revenue after contract renewal or replacement. Under the terms of the licences, LoyaltyOne has an exclusive right to use the Air Miles program in Canada for an indefinite term in return for which it is required to pay the royalty. The royalty is payable by LoyaltyOne to the partnership pursuant to the licences quarterly in arrears based on 1 per cent of gross billings from the Air Miles program in Canada in the quarter. The licences may only be terminated in certain limited circumstances, including bankruptcy or insolvency of either party, and are subject to cross-termination provisions. The foregoing is a summary of certain key commercial terms of the asset purchase agreement and the licences. These summaries do not purport to be complete and are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, the full terms of the asset purchase agreement and the licences, copies of which will be filed under Diversified Royalty's profile on SEDAR and will be available on SEDAR in due course. Investor conference call Management of Diversified Royalty will host a live conference call at 3 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET) on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017. To participate by telephone across Canada, call toll-free 1-877-291-4570. The management presentation for the conference call will be available on Diversified Royalty's website prior to the call. An archived telephone recording of the call will be available until Sept. 9, 2017, by calling 416-621-4642 or 1-800-585-8367 (passcode 76832422). About Diversified Royalty Corp. Diversified Royalty is a multiroyalty corporation engaged in the business of acquiring top-line royalties from well-managed businesses and franchisors in North America. In addition to the Air Miles program, Diversified Royalty currently owns the Sutton and Mr. Lube trademarks. Sutton is among the leading residential real estate brokerage franchisor businesses in Canada with approximately 8,000 agents and 200 offices across Canada, and Mr. Lube is the leading quick lube service business in Canada with 170 locations across Canada and over $200-million of annual system sales.
Still have a small holding in AIM, not selling in the nearterm. However i did miss rebuying my position around 1.70..... AIM touched 2.75 briefly last week and that would have equated in a huge gain had i rebought the 10K shares i once had....Cant always get it right i suppose.....
Technical looks good. Looking for breakout at 2.75 for a run up to 2.45. http://canada.stoxline.com/q_ca.php?s=aim.to
Nice report out from AIMIA, wishing i still had the shares i acquired under 2$, or had rebought them around there. Opened today with some selling and bottomed at about 2.51 before the shakeout was over. Now up over 10% from there , last trade i saw was at 2.86 Aimia loses $40.3-million in Q3 2017 2017-11-08 16:57 MT - News Release Mr. David Johnston reports AIMIA REPORTS THIRD QUARTER 2017 RESULTS Aimia Inc. has released its financial results for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2017. This quarterly earnings release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the MD&A which can be accessed on the company's website. Q3 highlights - operational(1): Gross Billings of $496.8 million, down 10.0% on a constant currency basis including the impact of divestitures; core business(2) down 3.6% on a constant currency basis Loyalty Units Gross Billings up 1.0% on a constant currency basis Adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.1%; Aeroplan contribution driving 250 bps improvement in core business(2) margin (excluding restructuring expense) to 14.5% Free Cash Flow before Dividends Paid of $51.9 million 2017 FCF guidance maintained, with increased Adjusted EBITDA margin expected on core business Gross Billings of between $2.0 to $2.1 billion Q3 highlights - strategic: Solid performance at Aeroplan with Loyalty Units Gross Billings up 3.4%; year to date redemption expense up 3.4% Business simplification on track to deliver annualized savings of $70 million from 2019, with expected savings of around $9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 Increased cash balances reflect disposals during the quarter "The business delivered a solid performance in the quarter. We saw good execution in our coalition programs around new partnerships and campaigns. Our Moments Worth Millions campaign demonstrated through more than 75,000 submissions how important Aeroplan is to our members," said David Johnston, Group Chief Executive. "We're very focused on securing long-term strategic and commercial partnerships that will provide even better experiences in the future and are making good progress on strengthening the balance sheet and executing on our cost reduction plans." Consolidated Financial Highlights(1) HIGHLIGHTS (1) (in millions of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended September 30, 2017 2016 Gross Billings 496.8 558.5 Total Revenue 452.1 503.6 Operating Loss (19.6) (13.9) Adjusted EBITDA 60.3 60.5 ROIC(3) 6.1% 5.2% Net Loss(4) (40.3) (1.5) Loss per Common Share(4) (0.26) (0.04) Adjusted Net Earnings per Common Share(4) 0.11 0.29 Cash from Operating Activities(5) 63.1 102.8 Free Cash Flow before Dividends Paid(5) 51.9 86.7 Free Cash Flow before Dividends Paid per Common Share(5) 0.34 0.54 Please refer to "Notes" for details on notations that appear on tables in this Press Release. Progress on key priorities Ongoing business simplification and acceleration of cost savings The transition to a two-division structure, expected to result in a significant reduction in divisional overhead and corporate costs, was initiated at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2017. At the end of September, headcount was 10% below the same time last year. Initial savings of around $9 million are expected to be achieved in 2017, ramping to an annualized 2019 run rate of $70 million. At the end of August 2017, the company completed the sale of the Canadian Air Miles trademarks. The company continues to explore further asset sales. Preserving strong cash and liquidity position The sale of the Canadian Air Miles trademarks contributed to a further strengthening of the cash balances. Proceeds of $53.8 million contributed to a $101.7 million increase in cash and cash equivalents to $374.8 million. Combined with short- and long-term investments in bonds and restricted cash, total cash and investments (before accounting for program reserves of $507.7 million) was at $668.6 million. Not bad for a company who was valued at 395 million cad$ yesterday.
