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Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. AQN-T reported a $195.2-million loss in its latest quarter and cut its financial guidance for the year. The power utility, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it lost 29 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of US$27.9-million or five cents per share in the same quarter last year. Revenue totalled US$666.7-million, up from US$528.6-million a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Algonquin says it earned 11 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 15 cents per share in its third quarter of 2021. In its outlook, the company says it now expects adjusted net earnings per share for 2022 in a range of 66 cents to 69 cents compared with earlier expectations for between 72 cents and 77 cents. Algonquin says it updated its guidance due to higher interest rates and inflation, delays in the construction and completion of some of its renewable energy projects, and anticipated delays in conn...

A person pushes a cart on a flooded highway in Sehwan, Pakistan, on Sept. 16. AKHTAR SOOMRO/Reuters Months after torrential rain and fast-melting glaciers submerged a third of Pakistan, parts of the country’s southern Sindh and Balochistan provinces still resemble an inland sea. “There are places where, as far as the eye can see, you still see water,” said Farah Naureen, Pakistan country director for aid agency Mercy Corps. The disaster has left thousands of families camped out in tents on elevated roadsides, first battling scorching summer heat with little shade – and now needing protection to deal with the winter cold, she said. But just a fifth of an $800-million UN aid appeal for the country has been covered so far. With 25,000 schools and millions of homes, plus health facilities and farm fields, needing repairs – adding up to damage estimated at $30 billion – “recovery is going to be very challenging”, Naureen said. At the COP27 UN climate summit in Egypt, a range of new effort...

NFI Group Inc. NFI-T reported a loss of US$42.6-million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of US$15.4-million in the same quarter last year as its revenue edged higher. NFI chief executive Paul Soubry says the results reflect the ongoing impacts of unreliable supplier performance, associated production inefficiencies and heightened inflation on input costs. The bus maker, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says the loss amounted to 56 cents per share for the company’s third quarter compared with a loss of 22 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter totalled US$514.0-million, up from US$492.0 in its third quarter of 2021. On an adjusted basis, NFI says it lost 63 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted loss of 16 cents per share in the same quarter last year. The company says it is in talks with Export Development Canada, the Manitoba government and other banking syndicate members regarding credit facility covenant relief and potentia...

A woman walks past a COP27 sign at the UN climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 16. Peter Dejong/The Associated Press UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world governments to “stand and deliver” a strong climate deal at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Thursday as negotiators remained far apart on key issues a day before the agreement’s deadline. The two-week conference at the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh is a test of global resolve to combat global warming as governments around the world are buffeted by crises ranging from a land war in Europe to sky-high consumer costs. “Global emissions are at their highest level in history – and rising. Climate impacts are decimating economies and societies – and growing. We know what we need to do – and we have the tools and resources to get it done,” Guterres told the conference. “I am here to appeal to all parties to rise to this moment and to the greatest challenge facing humanity. The world is watching and has a si...

Activists participate in a protest at the COP27 UN Climate Summit on Nov. 18, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Peter Dejong/The Associated Press The COP27 negotiations in Egypt remained in deadlock late on Friday, the day the UN-sponsored climate conference was to finish, in spite of a late intervention by the European Union to help developing countries pay for the damages inflicted by catastrophic climate events with a so-called loss and damage fund. The talks have been extended until Saturday. Delegates and environmental groups on Friday afternoon, local time, said that the summit faced collapse unless breakthroughs were made in the commitment to launch such a fund, and in the effort, also from developing countries, to ensure that any final agreement calls for the gradual elimination of all fossil fuels, not just coal. “The success or failure of this COP27 depends on the equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels,” Catherine Abreu, founder of the environmental group Destination Zero and a m...

A COP27 sign in Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Nov. 17. EMILIE MADI/Reuters Fossil fuel producers benefited from sympathetic treatment in Egypt at the COP27 climate talks, government officials said, bringing their influence to bear in rushed final negotiations and frustrating those who hoped for a more ambitious outcome. Officials said the host Egypt, a natural gas exporter and frequent recipient of funds from Gulf oil producers, was partly responsible, although the war in Ukraine and the subsequent European energy crisis also had an impact. Egyptian officials have said their priority was to provide a conducive atmosphere for negotiations and act as a neutral mediator. The presidency denied that fossil fuel producers had been given sympathetic treatment. “The end decision at COP27 was a compilation of inputs reached by consensus of all the UNFCCC parties who were all consulted,” it said in a statement, referring to nearly 200 countries taking part in the summit under th...

The Bank of Canada reported a $522-million third-quarter loss on Tuesday, the first time the central bank has lost money in its 87-year history. The bank has been caught in an unprofitable bind in recent months, as its dash to increase interest rates to fight inflation has created a mismatch between assets and liabilities on its enlarged balance sheet. It is now paying out a higher interest rate on roughly $200-billion worth of commercial bank deposits at the central bank than it is earning in interest on bonds that it owns. This led to a net-interest revenue loss of $350-million in the third quarter, down from $814-million net interest revenue the previous quarter. “The losses do not affect our ability to conduct monetary policy,” governor Tiff Macklem told the parliamentary finance committee last week. “I would also stress that our policy decisions are driven by our price and financial stability mandates. We do not make policy to maximize our income.” The losses may not impact the ...

French energy giant TotalEnergies said Friday that it will walk away from its stake in Russian natural gas producer Novatek and take a $3.7 billion loss. TotalEnergies, which has come under criticism for pursuing some of its projects in Russia amid the war in Ukraine, said Western sanctions prevent it from selling its 19.4% stake to the Russian company. It said it was withdrawing its representatives from the Novatek board, who have been abstaining from voting because of sanctions, with “immediate effect.” As a result, TotalEnergies will no longer account for its ownership interest in Novatek, which will lead it “to record an impairment of approximately $3.7 billion in the accounts for the 4th quarter of 2022,” the French company said in a statement. In line with its “principles of conduct” published on March 22, TotalEnergies “has gradually started to withdraw from its Russian assets while ensuring that it continues to supply gas to Europe.” It comes amid an energy crisis in Europe p...

There’s a crisis in cybersecurity right now, with a rise in attacks coupled with a shortage of talent. Handout Yogen Appalraju is a partner and the Canadian cybersecurity leader at EY Canada. If the digitization of businesses has taught us anything, it’s that cybersecurity is much more than simply a technology risk, it’s also a very serious business risk. A recent report from Statistics Canada showed that 18 per cent of Canadian businesses were affected by cybersecurity incidents last year, including 37 per cent of large businesses. By not giving the required attention to cybersecurity, businesses open themselves up to a plethora of risks, including effects on their operations, which will drive losses of revenue and profits. In fact, last year Canadian businesses spent $600-million on recovery efforts after cybersecurity incidents, a figure which doesn’t account for the reputational effect and subsequent loss of customers that a data breach can have on a business. Much of the increas...

Travel company Transat A.T. Inc. TRZ-T closed a challenging year on a high as it set sights on a continued recovery for air travel next year with high prices and even higher demand. “We are clearly on the road to recovery, our results are improving and our confidence is growing,” Transat chief executive Annick Guerard told a conference call with investors Thursday. Guerard said the airline has capitalized on favourable demand as customers continue to prioritize travel despite inflationary pressures and higher ticket prices. “Consumers are ready to pay more to travel,” Guerard said. The tour operator said ticket prices are now 15 per cent higher than in 2019 on average. While high fuel prices, up by 61 per cent, and a weak Canadian dollar impacted the airline’s growth, Transat chief financial officer Patrick Bui said the price increase driven by demand has helped offset these additional costs. Further costs were incurred when the airline had to rehire the employees laid off during the...

Hexo Corp. HEXO-T says its most recent quarter delivered a $52.1-million net loss as the cannabis company purged unprofitable products and streamlined its business. The Gatineau, Que.-based firm’s first quarter net loss compared with a net loss of more than $116.9-million a year earlier. The loss for the period ended Oct. 31 amounted to a net loss of nine cents per basic and diluted share compared with a net loss of 46 cents per basic and diluted share a year prior. Net revenue in the quarter totalled $35.8-million, down from $50.2-million in the same period last year. Hexo’s financial results were released at the same time as it announced a share consolidation that will combine 14 common shares into one share. Hexo says the consolidation is expected to take place around Dec. 19 and will affect Hexo’s listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. https://www.tausiinsider.com/cannabis-company-hexo-reports-52-1-million-net-loss-in-second-quarter-announces-share-consolidation...

A Credit Suisse bank in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 9, 2022. DENIS BALIBOUSE/Reuters Credit Suisse is considering a 50 per cent cut to its 2022 bonus pool, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, as the Swiss bank presses on with efforts to revive its fortunes after a series of scandals and heavy losses. The bank, whose shares were trading up 2.03 per cent to 3.120 Swiss francs at 1101 GMT, declined to comment on the report. The European Stoxx 600 banks index was up 0.15 per cent. Credit Suisse CS-N, which in November flagged a fourth quarter pretax loss of up to 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.58-billion), cut its 2021 bonus pool by 32 per cent after a loss for that year. Chopping that in half again for 2022 would put the Swiss bank at the sharp end of expected industry-wide bonus cuts of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent in London and New York, according to recruiters canvassed by Reuters. They said the drop is a consequence of last year’s sharp slowdown in mergers and stock offering...

The Bank of Canada building, in Ottawa, on May 31, 2022. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has appointed three new members to the Bank of Canada’s board of directors, including the first Indigenous board member, bringing the central bank’s oversight group back up to full strength. Ernie Daniels, David Dominy and Shelley Williams will join the 15-member board, which is made up of the bank’s governor, senior deputy governor, the deputy minister of finance and 12 independent directors. The board is not involved with setting interest rates or other aspects of monetary policy. That’s handled by the bank’s five-person governing council. But the board provides high-level oversight on issues such as accounting, strategic planning and risk management. Independent directors serve three-year renewable terms. Mr. Daniels is the president and chief executive officer of the First Nations Finance Authority. “To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Daniels is the first Firs...

The Bank of Canada's recently released third-quarter financial results showed that for the first time, the bank incurred a net loss of $511-million. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Sonja Chen and Trevor Tombe are professors of economics at the University of Calgary. While the full effects of the Bank of Canada’s rate hikes are not yet known, there is an immediate effect on the central bank’s own finances: growing interest expenses and large financial losses. The bank’s recently released third-quarter financial results showed that for the first time, the bank incurred a net loss: $511-million. This is only the beginning. This matters, especially at a time of heightened political attention toward monetary-policy issues. The bank’s revenue is largely derived from its asset holdings, which mainly included Government of Canada bonds and treasury bills. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these bond holdings cost the bank very little, and their returns normally exceeded bank expenses b...

Cars and debris from washed away homes line a canal in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Oct. 5, 2022. Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press Natural disasters, many driven by climate change, caused global economic losses of US$313-billion in 2022, insurance broker Aon estimated on Wednesday, of which less than half was insured. Losses from natural catastrophes covered by the insurance sector amounted to US$132-billion, 57 per cent above the 21st-century average, it added, leaving a global “protection gap’” of 58 per cent. Yet while the number of catastrophic events such as floods and hurricanes rose – at least 421 individual events compared with an average of 396 since 2000 – Aon said the protection gap was one of the lowest on record. “It was relatively low due to the fact that many of the costliest disasters occurred in countries with mature insurance markets such as U.S. or Europe, whereas losses in less-covered regions such as Asia were well below average,” Michal Lorinc, head of catas...

There’s a crisis in cybersecurity right now, with a rise in attacks coupled with a shortage of talent. Handout Yogen Appalraju is a partner and the Canadian cybersecurity leader at EY Canada. If the digitization of businesses has taught us anything, it’s that cybersecurity is much more than simply a technology risk, it’s also a very serious business risk. A recent report from Statistics Canada showed that 18 per cent of Canadian businesses were affected by cybersecurity incidents last year, including 37 per cent of large businesses. By not giving the required attention to cybersecurity, businesses open themselves up to a plethora of risks, including effects on their operations, which will drive losses of revenue and profits. In fact, last year Canadian businesses spent $600-million on recovery efforts after cybersecurity incidents, a figure which doesn’t account for the reputational effect and subsequent loss of customers that a data breach can have on a business. Much of the increas...