BCE buying rest of Virgin Mobile Canada

OTTAWA — BCE Inc says it is buying the 50-percent stake in Virgin Mobile Canada that it doesn’t already own for $142-million as it prepares for an onslaught of discount competitors in the coming year.

The nation's largest communications company also said it has signed an agreement with rival Telus Corp to distribute Bell's satellite television in Alberta and British Columbia under the Telus brand. The move is an attempt to dislodge Shaw Communication Inc's dominance in the region.

At the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on May 7, shareholders overwhelmingly approved a motion for "say on pay," which will give shareholders an advisory vote on executive compensation.

Bell Canada's traditional phone-line business continued its decline in the quarter, losing 78,000 home phone accounts, compared to a loss of 106,000 lines in the comparable quarter last year.

Sun Life blames market for loss

TORONTO — Sun Life Financial Inc announced May 7 that it fell to a loss during the first three months of 2009 due largely to the poor market conditions that prevailed throughout much of the quarter.

The Toronto-based insurer reported a first-quarter loss of $213-million or 38 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, reversing year-earlier profit of $533-million or 93 cents per share.

The loss comes despite an increase in quarterly revenue, which rose to $5.03-billion from $3.89-billion recorded during the same quarter of 2008.

Layoffs loom as BMO profits shrivel

MONTREAL — The Bank of Montreal is slicing its labour costs to deal with market uncertainty. On May 26, BMO disclosed plans to slash roughly 3 percent of its workforce after posting a second-quarter profit that tumbled 44 percent to $358 million.

Canada's fourth-largest bank is primarily targeting management jobs in all its operating groups across the company. Some layoffs have already occurred and the remainder will transpire throughout 2009.

BMO primarily operates in Canada and the Midwest United States. It employed 37,000 people in fiscal 2008. Based on that number, a 3 percent cut would amount to about 1,100 jobs. Its Canadian head count was 29,635 during its February-to-April quarter.

Labatt and Brick at lager heads

TORONTO — Just as the summer beer-drinking season gets into full swing, a brawl has broken out between two key industry players.

Canada's largest brewer, Labatt Brewing Co Ltd, is accusing pint-sized Brick Brewing Co Ltd of infringing on its Brava trademark, by using similar colours and designs to sell its Red Baron beer.

Brick disputes the claim, characterizing it as an attack on a small domestic rival by a large foreign-owned firm. Labatt is owned by Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, the world's biggest brewer.

The dispute arose after both brewers separately relaunched their respective brands.

In March 2007, Labatt gave Brava a makeover after acquiring the brand as part of its purchase of Hamilton-based Lakeport Brewing Co.

Brick, which also competes in the discount market with its Laker brand, also recently relaunched Red Baron.

Both brands are sold in clear glass bottles and use black and red as dominant colours in their logos and packaging. Even employees of The Beer Store are confused and have mistakenly sent an unspecified number of Red Baron empties to Labatt's Brava bottle plant to be refilled, Labatt said in its statement of claim, adding that it has also resulted in some Red Baron bottles being filled with Brava beer.

However, the real issue may be the price. At $27.35 for a case of 24 bottles, Red Baron was selling for more than $2 less a case than Brava, until Labatt lowered its price to $28.

Canada still in 'strong slowdown': OECD

 

PARIS — Canada is not among a small group of major economies showing tentative signs of a “pause” in their economic slowdown, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development said May 11.

Those countries showing less gloomy signals are China, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, said the OECD, the Paris-based think-tank, in its monthly report of composite leading indicators.

The four “are showing tentative signs of, at least, a pause in the economic slowdown,” the OECD said in a news release.

With its fortunes far more closely tied to the U.S. than its major trading partners, Canada remains in a “strong slowdown” phase of the economic cycle, with its CLI falling by 0.4 points to 91.1 in March. The total was 10.2 points lower than during the same period a year ago.

The CLI for the United States fell by 0.6 points in March to 89.9 — 11.8 points lower than a year ago.