Manitoba's small cap companies reflect diverse economy
Winnipeg Free Press
Tue Dec 28 2004
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Manitoba boasts a diverse economy and no where is that better reflected than in the publicly traded companies that call the province home.
In a year-end recap, business writers Murray McNeill, Martin Cash and Geoff Kirbyson provide a snapshot of key events at Manitoba's publicly traded companies and some of their key numbers.
Today, the focus is on a number of small cap companies, those relatively tiny companies with small stock market capitalizations. Tomorrow, we will wrap up our look at small cap companies and shift to the large cap firms.
Buhler Industries Ltd.
Ticker: BUI
Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange
No. of shares outstanding (Sept. 30): 25,000,000
Market Capitalization: $181.25 million
52-week high: $7.63
52-week low: $5.48
Share price Dec. 24, 2003: $5.85
Share price Dec. 24, 2004: $7.25
Percentage change: 23.93.
Buhler Industries continued to defy the odds and produced a bumper crop of financial results in 2004 when the agriculture sector suffered through another infestation of challenges.
Sales for the farm equipment manufacturer were up 14 per cent to $206.1 million for the year ending Sept. 30 and profits were up modestly to $12 million.
Considering the value of the Canadian dollar increased by about 20 per cent against the U.S. dollar, and steel prices, the main ingredient in most of Buhler's products, are at twice the peak price of the last 10 years, Buhler Industries' performance continued to be remarkably strong.
Buhler shares continue to be a sleeper, outperforming the S&P/TSX small cap index by almost three to one.
Company founder and CEO John Buhler sold off some of his holdings in the company this year, although he still holds about 55 per cent of the shares.
Rumours persist that heir-apparent Craig Engel, Buhler's president and chief operating officer, will become CEO when he identifies a second-in-command and heir-apparent for himself.